


The Ties That Bind

by Heronfem



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Yakuza, Blood and Violence, Chimeras, Complicated Relationships, Eventual BokuAkaKuroKen, Eventual Happy Ending, Hinata Shouyou is a Dork, M/M, Magic-Users, Soul Bond, Star-crossed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-11 09:42:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 36,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13521585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heronfem/pseuds/Heronfem
Summary: Hinata Shouyou wants to be the best Flight mage to ever exist, and joins Karasuno's coven in the city to learn how. But the city is teeming with magic and its users, all of them with their own agendas and people to protect. Before he knows it, he's been thrown into the complex and dangerous politics of the cities most powerful covens, and finds himself friends with those who would tear down the ancient Laws and Ways to build a better world and save those trapped within them-no matter the cost.(or: Accidental Disney princess Hinata Shouyou gets wrapped in magical yakuza mayhem.)





	1. beginnings.

**Author's Note:**

> Also summarized as: Accidental Disney princess Hinata Shouyou gets wrapped in magical yakuza mayhem.

Kenma's favorite hide out is the one on the top floor of the club where they met a year ago. Bokuto Koutarou smokes in the slow elevator that takes him to the penthouse, watching as the numbers climb. On the 25th floor, the doors open to reveal a short hallway with red carpet, intricate and elegant modern art on each of the walls leading to a pair of doors painted black. He walks to them, taking in the scenes carved into the expensive wood. Dragons coil around trees, looking down on party-goers who seem dressed for hanami, their eyes gleaming with inset jewels.

He lets himself in with the key in his pocket, and is immediately greeted by the city skyline at night. Floor to ceiling windows line one wall of the penthouse, with its sunken seating and open layout. It's the kind of risk that most wouldn't take, but Kuroo Tetsurou is the kind of powerful that doesn't lend itself to being attacked. Nekoma's head of operations is a powerful man with a powerful chimera he keeps at his side, and news like Kenma gets around fast. Between the two of them they're one deadly weapon, even if Kuroo specializes in defense rather than attacking magic. He feels wards brush at his skin and walks further into the room, looking around as his shoes tap on the hardwood floors.

Kuroo himself is the corner of one of the black sunken couches, angled half-toward and half-away, dark eyes watching as Koutarou closes the door behind him. Kenma's nowhere to be seen.

“You orchestrated it,” Koutarou says, when the silence grows heavy and Kuroo's eyes begin to feel like they're boring into his skull.

Kuroo looks away, taking a long drag on his cigarette. In the darkness, with the only light coming in from the enormous windows, he looks feral and magnificent. The moonlight paints his muscles into sharp relief, his cheekbones turning unnaturally high. His eyes, under their sleepy lids, are dark and cunning as ever when they flick back to him. 

“Kuroo, did you do it?”

“I had a hand,” Kuroo says, shrugging one shoulder. His tattoos are out on display, and Koutarou can see the one on the back of his neck in deep black against his fair skin- the Binding rune that marks him as forever trapped under Nekomata's thumb. He'll never be able to move against him physically, never be able to lift a finger against his boss. Nekomata owns him for life, and Koutarou feels a rush of pure hatred for Nekomata for tethering him down even tighter than Kenma.“That's a short question for a good hour of travel to get here from the heart of Fukurodani's territory on such an auspicious night, my friend.”

“It's a short question because the second one is whether it was Nekomata who gave the order, or Kenma.”

Kuroo's eyes flick to him, smoke escaping through his teeth like some old dragon, lounging on top of his hoard. “What answer do you want, Bokuto?” he purrs.

“The real one.”

From above him, there's the faint sound of footsteps. Kenma emerges from the loft, walking down the spiral staircase draped in only a sheer robe with flower appliques, a thin black collar around his throat with a d-ring waiting for a leash. Koutarou watches, sees the long tail flick back and forth, the untrimmed claws and the sharp teeth, the clever secondary ears that twitch at the sound of Kuroo resettling on the couch. Male calico chimeras are incredibly rare, and Kenma is among their number. 

“It was me,” Kenma says simply, tucking blonde-black hair behind one ear. His eyes seem to glow with the reflection of the city lights and the slight flame at the end of Kuroo's cigarette. Koutarou watches him approach, looks down at those beautiful gold eyes. Kenma runs his hand down Koutarou's chest, claws catching lightly at the fabric. “Watani-san was a terrible leader. You will be a better one.”

“I'm not a commander,” he says, because he needs Kenma to understand this. “I can't be Head of the coven, I'm just an enforcer with skills to kill shit very dead. I don't have your talent for leading, or knowing what people are going to do five steps ahead.”

“No,” Kenma agrees, smoothing down his shirt once more. “But you can defend, and you have morals where they had none. Arrangements can be made. Leadership can be taught. Things are changing, Koutarou, and changing fast. Watani had to go if Fukurodani was going to make it in this new world of ours.”

The claws catch on his shirt, pricking against the skin underneath. Koutarou feels dizzy as he looks into Kenma's eyes, sees the truth there.

“You're using me,” Koutarou whispers, and Kenma blinks up at him, smiling slightly.

“In a way,” he says, no shame. “But think of what an alliance between Fukurodani and Nekoma could mean. Think about what it means for Itachiyama, and for every one of the chimeras they keep captive.”

_Think about Akaashi_ , his mind whispers. 

Koutarou wants to shake with fear, but he can't. He feels like he's in the center of a brand new storm, one that's beginning to swirl around the penthouse and gather strength. “You want to overthrow the old Laws and the Ways,” he realizes. “You want revolution through the covens.”

Kenma smiles, and his teeth are very sharp. “I think it's time, don't you?”

Koutarou feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He looks to Kuroo, still on the couch, his smile pleased and dangerous. The cigarette's end glows red, and Kuroo's smile flashes.

“Tell me what to do.”

Kenma's smile is like knives in the dark.


	2. the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hinata Shouyou comes to town, and makes some friends.

Hinata Shouyou is ten years old when he realizes that most people can't hear birds talking.

He's grown up in a moderately magical household. Neither of his parents are very good at magic, but it's around. They're witches, not mages like the Coven heads of Yukigaoka, and so by default Shouyou is only a witch as well. He goes to the school the coven runs, as is proper, and has coven friends and other sorts of friends, as is proper, and doesn't cause any major trouble by showing off his gifts because he basically doesn't have anything useful to show off. But he likes birds. He loves to watch them fly, loves their little yammering voices, loves to talk to them and hear about all the places they've gone.

And when he talks to someone about it, he finds out that no, most people can't talk to birds, and it seems he has a different kind of magic than what the Coven is willing to teach. They teach the basics, of course, energy manipulation and the elements and basic potions and such, but Shouyou has something called “Flight” magic. His teachers sit down and explain it him plainly. Wild magic, things like people who have magic with cats or horses, or birds like Shouyou does, is considered not a very useful skill. Few people have it, and fewer still use it. There are no mages or witches with the “Flight” gift, and no bird-type chimeras in Yukigaoka who he could apprentice to. He's just going to have to learn what he can, and when it comes time for him to go to college or a Secondary Teaching coven, then he can see about learning it. 

Hinata Shouyou, age 10, is not impressed.

oOo

“ _Seiko Station_ ,” the announcement voice on the shinkansen says, and Hinata Shouyou, age 18, all but bolts off of the train with his backpack and bulky duffle bag. The station is busy and crowded, and he barely has a moment to catch his breath before he's been shunted aside by everyone and is up against a post watching as people shuffle out into the station. He looks around in interest, and when there's a gap in the crowd he squeezes in and is swept up with the crowd to the exit. The city opens up around him, and he gasps as he takes in the enormous buildings, stepping off to the side so he doesn't get squished by the crowd.

He fishes the paper out of his pocket with his directions, and reads over it. “Get off at Seiko station, take the right side exit, go to the end of the road and take a right,” he mumbles, the words a little smudged from traveling. “Go for two kilometers, take a left by the 7-11.”

Ugh.

He hefts his duffle onto his back, sends off a quick email to let the coven Head know he's arrived in the city, and heads out.

The invitation to continue his magical education under Karasuno coven had been a surprise, but a happy one. He'd put in for several covens in the city, but few wanted to take a witch whose only skill was in Flight and was sometimes decent at fire magic. Karasuno was a tiny coven, but they had a history of decent work and they were well known for churning out Flight mages in the distant past. Hinata's parents hadn't been excited about him leaving to go to the city, but they were swayed when Shouyou had burst into happy tears.

And so here he was, taking a left by the 7-11 and finding himself in front of a modest four-story building. There's a restaurant-bookshop on the bottom with a cheery set up and warm windows with “Karasuno” emblazoned on them, and on the little balconies on the third floor there are lush plants and the signs of comfortable life. It looks like there's a small yard to the back of the building as well, and Hinata pushes open the door to the shop and steps inside. 

“Hello?” He calls, and behind the counter a man with silver hair pops up from cleaning something.

“Oh! Hello! Welcome to Karasuno, are you Hinata?”

“Th-that's me!” Shouyou straightens up, looking at the man and his pretty hair, his pretty mole by his eye, and his very very pretty smile. He can feel his cheeks getting hot. At 18, he's well aware that men are something he likes as a general concept, but. Well. Beautiful people are scary. “Are you Sugawara-san?”

“Just Suga is fine! Come in, come in.” Suga comes around the counter, his smile bright. “I'm glad you made it safely! Was there any trouble on the train?”

But Shouyou's been distracted, because behind Suga are beautiful, _beautiful_ wings. They're gray-blue, with tiny white bits on the tips, darker at the top and floating into a muted gray at the bottom. They're gorgeous, long and sleek, and Shouyou loves them immediately for how incredibly beautiful they are. “You're a chimera,” he breathes, eyes fixed on those wings. “A bird chimera!”

Suga laughs, flexing his wings a little, and they rustle softly. “Yes. Did you not know?”

“No,” Shouyou says, staring at them. “What kind of wings are they? They're so beautiful. They're just like your hair, all pretty and silver and everything, _wow_.”

Suga might have gone a little pink, but Shouyou is too distracted to really notice. “Gray Jay. From the corvid family.”

“I love corvids!” Shouyou inches forward, still awed. “They're so smart and clever and the ones near my house taught me how to pick locks and break open nuts even though I just have human fingers. And they're so pretty! I really like magpies even though sometimes they're really rude, they showed me how to make river rocks stay shiny.”

“That's right,” Suga says, “I forgot, you're the one with Flight as a gift.” He pulls his wings back in to Shouyou's disappointment. “Come on, everyone else has arrived. It's a really small class this year, just four of you.”

Shouyou follows him through the back and up a flight of stairs to the second level after Suga flips the sign on the door to “closed”. There's a number of doors there. 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 are written on them, one set of numbers a piece. Beside each door is a mail box with names listed for the occupants of the room, the first he's seen of them in the upstairs of a place. Suga pulls a key out of his pocket and opens the one numbered 9-10. It opens into a small sitting area with a kitchenette, table and two chairs, a rather lovely painting of Mount Fuji, a door out to a tiny balcony, and then two smaller rooms off to the side. The door reading 9 is shut, but 10 is open, and Suga leads him in. It's small, with a desk and chair, a bed, and a wardrobe. There's also a set of shelves.

“Here's your room,” he says, and Shouyou puts his things down on the bed. “It's a bit small, and you'll be sharing your apartment with someone else. There's a full kitchen downstairs, laundry in the basement, the kitchenette is just for if you want to cook small things up here. Here's your key to this room, the key to the main door of the building to get in to the housing area, and the key to the apartment. We clean the whole place top to bottom once a month at least, and do basic cleaning every week. It's good for grounding work. The rooms are extremely well sound proofed, so you shouldn't hear anything through the walls and we won't be able to hear you. Remember to check your mail occasionally, sometimes the spell that transports it upstairs gets mixed up and you'll get someone elses.”

Shouyou takes the keys and nods frantically. “I will. And I can clean! I'm good at cleaning.”

Suga smiles at him, ruffling his hair. “Good to hear. Now, let's go.” He leads them out, and points to a different door at the end of the hall. “Bathrooms and showers for this level are through here. Do _not_ leave anything in there, it will definitely get carried off on accident by something or other. Probably Tanaka.” They go up another flight to the third floor, and Suga points out the next set of rooms as classrooms. “You'll be in room 3-A most of the time, it's the biggest, but those in the class just above you are larger so you might swap with them for room 1-A sometimes when they need to do practical work. The floor above us is a dojo for magical practice, so you'll see that in a bit. Your class is a class of 4, all of you the same age which is a bit unusual. The class above you has 5, and then there's Sawamura Daichi as our Head, myself, and then Azumane Asahi, who... He's both a teacher and student I suppose. He's a researcher, among other things. Daichi was forced into being made Head of the coven last year, after our last Head left to go home and take over the family business.”

Shouyou nods, not sure what to say, and follows as Suga leads them down the hall to the door reading “3-A”. He pushes it open, and Shouyou steps in to find a bunch of eyes on him.

“Finally,” a tall boy with black glasses and blonde hair mutters from a seat on what looks like a very comfortable cushion.

“DON'T BE RUDE,” a tall guy with a shaved head roars, grinning at Shouyou, and whacks the blond guy on the back.

“S-sorry to intrude,” Shouyou manages with a quick bow. He looks up to find a sturdy, stocky man smiling at him. He has a warm, inviting face and gentle eyes. 

“Good to see you made it. Go ahead and take a seat wherever,” he says, his voice low and warm, and Shouyou is both utterly terrified and very relieved. He turns his eyes to the group, everyone on a traditional cushion, and scurries over to the nearest empty one. He sits between a boy about his age with dark hair and dark blue eyes who gives him a cold once over, and the blonde boy who spoke when he walked in. Suga doesn't bother to sit, just leans against the wall and smiles at the man at the front of the room.

“Alright,” Suga says cheerfully. “Asahi texted me, he and Noya won't be back until next week at the earliest from their research in Hokkaido. Let's go ahead and get introductions done.”

The man at the front of the room is Coven Head Sawamura Daichi, it turns out. Kageyama Tobio is the grouchy guy beside him, Tsukishima Kei is the blond, and Yamaguchi Tadashi is the one with freckles and hopeless hair. They're all 18, all from different parts of Miyagi to everyone's surprise. Yamaguchi and Tsukhishima have been living in the city for about two months already, Kageyama just arrived the day before. Ennoshita Chikara is plain looking but nice and 21, Narita Kazuhito and Kinoshita Hisashi are apparently jokesters and both 23, Tanaka Ryuunosuke is the shaved-head guy and only 20. Suga and Daichi are both a surprising 25.

“Asahi is 25 as well,” Suga tells the first years. “Nishinoya Yuu is 20. Make fun of his height at your own risk, he's even smaller than Hinata.”

Hinata, by far and away the smallest in the room, feels slightly better about that.

“A couple quick things as we officially kick off the start of training,” Daichi says, his face going serious. “Please be careful in this new environment until you know your way around. The city isn't Miyagi. There are new rules and laws to follow here, and covens work differently here. Until you know the area, please only go out with people who've been here a while.”

Shouyou nods, but Kageyama seems reluctant.

“Good. Now, every year at the start and end of training season there's a banquet that all of the covens attend,” Daichi says. “Karasuno can't host, we're much too small, and none of the Yakuven can host, so we're going to Aoba Johsai Coven for the banquet.”

“Um,” Shouyou says, holding up his hand. “What's a Yakuven?”

Everyone in the room collectively looks at him in surprise.

“What?” Shouyou asks, defensive. “I've never been to a big city before.”

Suga smiles, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. “A coven that deals in illegal trades and organized crime,” he explains. “A Yakuza-coven. You might hear them called by different names through the city. Red path covens, coven-kai or coven-gumi, blade coven, or tattoo covens are other nicknames for them. Red Path covens is the most polite way to refer to them. There are quite a few of them in the city. For the most part they leave us alone. Just like the normal yakuza, they tattoo themselves, but these tattoo arrays and runes for easy casting most of the time. If you run into anyone with tattoos like that, be very polite and very careful. We're a very small coven with little to no power, and offending any Red Path covens could make life difficult for all of us.”

Shouyou nods, and misses the way that Daichi's eyes go a little bit dark around the edges for a moment.

“Right, so, the banquet. Everyone brings their own food, as the Yakuven don't want to get poisoned and Aoba Johsai is no more going to cook for hundreds of magic users than jump off a bridge. I'm hoping you four brought at least once suit, too, because it's a formal event.” Daichi's smile gets a little sharp, and Shouyou cringes along with Kageyama. “Most covens try to coordinate together around the colors of their banners. Ours is orange and black. Aoba Johsai will be in white and teal, and so help me if Oikawa throws a fit about your clothes not being up to scratch I will never stop trying to kill you because he'll bring it up until the end of time. You are to dress _nice_. Make sure that you don't get anything red. Red and black is Nekoma's colors. If you want to wear hakama instead of a suit that's fine, but do _not_ wear anything red. We have orange ties around here somewhere if you can only find black. Narita will take you four to go and get clothes some time this week. Remember, you represent Karasuno now.”

“Ossu!” Shouyou says cheerfully, the other three echoing it with him.

“Alright. We also need to pick up food for the banquet. Kageyama's been out running errands already, so Yamaguchi, will you go with Hinata to pick things up?”

Yamaguchi gives him a somewhat nervous smile. “Sure, Daichi-san.”

“Good.” Daichi claps his hands. “Alright. We'll get started properly tomorrow on training since everyone's here now. Hinata, go unpack, and when you're done I'll send you and Yamaguchi to get things for tonight's dinner.”

Shouyou scrambles to his feet and has to crane his neck as Tsukishima stands next to him. “Woah! You're really tall!”

“I hadn't noticed,” he says dryly, and Yamaguchi snickers as they leave the room. Shouyou fights down his blush and follows them out and down the stairs to his new apartment/room/thing, smiling as he walks in. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima go into the 11-12 room, and Shouyou supposes that means his roommate is going to be the grouchy Kageyama. He starts unpacking, whistling as he does. It doesn't take long to get his clothes put away and his backpack put on the desk. He'll have his mom ship things like his books and maybe his favorite plush down when he can. Then again, maybe Kageyama will make fun of him.

He shakes his head and leaves his room as Kageyama appears in the apartment doorway. 

“Hi! I guess we're living together!”

Kageyama makes a faint noise of agreement, staring him down with hard eyes, and Shouyou puffs up as much as he can. 

“Don't get in my way,” Kageyama says at last, and Shouyou glares at him.

“ _What_?”

“Don't get in my way,” Kageyama says again, his lip twisting a little. “I'm a channeler, I can feel how strong and how much control someone has. You barely have any. What've you be _doing_ all these years?”

Shouyou's face burns. “Everything I could!”

“It wasn't enough, apparently,” Kageyama says, brushing past him. “You're not even a mage.”

“So what?” Shouyou mutters, and stomps out the door, shutting it behind him. He's heard that a million times anyway, it doesn't matter. He's listened to everyone in Yukigaoka talk about how someone with talents like him wasn't going to go anywhere since the day he found out about Flight magic. And so what? It took time to become a mage, to build up that power and skill until he could claim the title. He was going to be the best damn Flight mage of the world, no matter how “useless” he was. He'll learn ways to help with it no matter what.

He descends into the cafe and finds Yamaguchi waiting for him at one of the tables with Tsukishima, who looks very uninterested in the world around him.

“Hi, Hinata! Ready to go?”

“Yep!” He puts on a smile, and Tsukishima looks even less interested. “Hey, what are your gifts? I didn't think to ask earlier.”

“Um, well,” Yamaguchi says, going red, “I have... travel magic. It's not that useful most of the time. Tsukki has-”

“I can talk, Yamaguchi.” Tsukishima leans back in his chair. “I have the Sight and Defender magic. I make wards, basically.”

“Cool! I have Flight magic,” Hinata offers, and Tsukishima scoffs.

“Flight magic? What even is that? Can you fly?”

“No,” Hinata says, undeterred. “I have magic with birds! I can talk to them and they help me sometimes when I'm lost or want to learn things. And probably I can do other things with them but there weren't any Flight witches or mages or any bird type chimeras in my area I could learn from. And I'm okay with fire magic.”

“Well that's... boring,” Tsukishima drawls, and Shouyou makes a face at him. “I'm going to go read. Don't get lost, Yamaguchi, I'm not coming to get you.”

“I won't, Tsukki!”

Yamaguchi watches him go with a smile, and then turns to Shouyou. “Come on, I'll show you how to get to the grocery store! There's the 7-11 right around the corner too if you're really hungry, but the market is really good. There's a lot of cool stuff there because it's a magical market that Aoba Johsai helps control.”

Shouyou follows him out the door, waving to Suga and Daichi on his way out the door as they walk around the counter. Yamaguchi leads him down their little street, and Shouyou makes sure to memorize which turns they take before they reach a major road. Cars bustle past, people are talking on phones and walking the sidewalk, and the buildings are so incredibly tall. He looks around in awe, and Yamaguchi has to drag him out of the way of a cyclist who gives them a dirty look.

“It's so pretty here,” Shouyou marvels, and gasps as tiny fat sparrows fly to him and land on his arms. “Oh, hello! Nice to meet you!”

“ _What are you?_ ” A tiny excited voice demands, and some of the sparrows hop up into his hair. He stays still as Yamaguchi gapes at him, smiling as the sparrows examine him, tiny claws on his skin and little beaks poking into his ears. “ _You're a witch, but not a witch like the little one there!! What are you???_ ”

Shouyou loves sparrows so much it hurts. They're always so bright and excited and ready to fight anything that moves. “I'm a witch! I have magic with birds like your honorable selves! It's so good to meet you, you all look so well fed!”

The speaker, one of the fattest he's ever seen, puffs up and hops onto his cupped hands to look up at him. “ _Hello small sunshine witch!!!! I am Raku, King of Second Flock! We are happy to meet you too!_ ”

Yamaguchi is watching with his eyes so wide it looks like they're going to roll out of his head, and others are stopping to look at the boy covered in birds, but Shouyou's just so happy to see the sparrows he can't bring himself to care. The majority of the flock finishes examining him and flies off, leaving Raku and three others who peep excitedly. 

“ _We must go! There are spilled seeds to tend to_ ,” Raku tells him, fluffing out his feathers. “ _Visit us in Second Flock territory within the park when you can!!!_ ”

“I will,” he promises, and Raku flies away with his attendants. Shouyou watches them go with a huge smile.

“Okay,” Yamaguchi says as Shouyou jogs over to him, “you said Flight magic. I didn't think you meant that you were an actual Disney princess.”

“Sparrows like saying hi,” Shouyou tells him. “They're really friendly and curious. Pigeons are nice too when they're done laughing at you and joking around, but corvids are the _best_. They're so fun! And they're really funny, and they can talk to everybody if they have enough time to learn the words. Kuro-Feather clan from my home was the best, they were so nice and invited me in and taught me as much as they could. Bird magic is really fun. Doves are not that smart, though. It's kind of like talking to a really confused wall.”

“That's really, really cool,” Yamaguchi tells him, and Shouyou beams at him. Yamaguchi is officially his favorite so far, after Suga, because Suga has _wings_.

They arrive at the market and Yamaguchi leads him through all the fun and interesting aisles with cool magical items, drags him away from the sugary American cereals, and they gather everything for the dinner without much of an issue. Yamaguchi shows him how to pay with the Coven's card on the weirdest machines he's ever seen, and they leave loaded down with bags. Shouyou learns that Yamaguchi is an only child of a single mother, that he's known Tsukishima since he was tiny and Tsukishima scared off some bullies and then left him alone, that Yamaguchi practically worships him to this day, and that Yamaguchi is definitely 100% in love with the guy. He also learns Yamaguchi is from an absolutely tiny town about a mountain away from where Shouyou grew up, his dad was a witch and his mom is a mage, that Tsukishima is really really good at spirit stuff, and that Yamaguchi really likes french fries and his name is written with the kanji for “loyalty” which is absolutely adorable in Shouyou's opinion.

They make it two blocks down the street before a magpie swoops down and settles on Shouyou's shoulder.

“ _What's this what's this?_ ” The magpie croaks in his ear, and gently cards his beak through Shouyou's hair. “ _Raku says there's a sunshine witch and I find him! Lucky lucky Fuku. Who are you are you, little sunshine witch with the pretty hair?_ ”

“I'm Hinata Shouyou,” Shouyou tells him, leaning into the gentle carding. He's already been missing the preening that Kuro-feather Clan had subjected him to regularly. It feels so nice. “It's nice to meet you!”

“ _Lucky Fuku, too_ ,” Fuku tells him, adjusting his wings. He's a proper Japanese magpie, with a black capped head, white body, and blue-gray wings tipped in white. “ _Very pretty hair, sunshine witch! Raku was right. Here, come with me sunshine witch. There's something I want to show you._ ”

“What would you to show me?” Shouyou says, keeping his voice polite and happy. Magpies and crows aren't considered tricksters for nothing. 

“ _A beautiful thing, with big wings, who needs help._ ” Fuku cards through his hair with his beak again. “ _Getting close is bad because he is big and scary but he is hurt._ ”

“Where is he?” Shouyou asks, now worried. Sometimes magpies, while generally keeping to their own type, would make friends with others. They got injured here and there, and Shouyou's lost track of how many times he's been dragged out to the woods to help an injured bird- whether helping them to pass away, or taking them to a vet. 

“ _Close_ ,” Fuku says, feathers rustling again. “ _I have watched him a long time! Come come see._ ”

Shouyou nods, turning to Yamaguchi, who's staring at Fuku in awe. “This is Fuku. Someone's hurt, we need to go help.”

“W-We do?”

“Of course,” Shouyou says, adjusting his grip on the bags. “I'm a Flight witch! I have to help!”

“O-o-okay.” Yamaguchi follows, and Fuku takes off from Shouyou's arm and flies forward. He leads them in a winding path, waiting while they have to let the lights change, and leads them deeper and deeper into the city. Yamaguchi is starting to look very nervous, looking around them with wide eyes, but Shouyou focuses on Fuku. They go through a park, and pass by several tall buildings before they reach a busy side road where it seems there's a procession of some kind happening. Fuku lands on his shoulder again, shifting back and forth.

“Where is he?” Shouyou asks, looking around. Through the people watching and murmuring to each other, he can see people in traditional clothes walking down the street towards a shrine carrying a palanquin with a tall top in pure black. “Is... is this a funeral procession?”

“What's going on?” Yamaguchi asks, watching the people.

“ _Tall one there with big wings_ ,” Fuku tells him, and tugs his hair to look at one of the men walking just to the side of the palanquin. “ _Hurt and sick and needs help. Help him, sunshine witch!_ ”

Fuku jumps from his shoulder and flies away to land on the very top of the palanquin, but Shouyou's eyes are fixed on the chimera walking beside it.

He's _beautiful_. His eys are soft and sad, heavy lids drawing them down so he seems somber yet half asleep. He's fine boned in the face, with soft black hair in thick waves that cascades on his forehead. His eyes are brilliant emerald green, and he's tall and graceful, dressed in lilac hakama with a white top that's got slits in the back for a frankly enormous pair of wings. Shouyou's eyes fix on them, taking in the mottled browns and soft tan of the feathers. They're absolutely enormous, far larger than Suga's sleek wings, puffing out far behind him and nearly dragging on the ground with how long they are.

Shouyou reaches out with what little Flight magic he knows without thinking, brushing lightly over the man, and physically recoils when he feels a rush of helpless sadness and pain. He stumbles a little, and Yamaguchi catches him. The chimera shakes his shoulders, frowning a little, but doesn't look away from the road before him.

“He's so sad,” Shouyou whispers, clutching Yamaguchi's arm.

“Who?”

“That man next to the palanquin, the one with the wings.”

Yamaguchi blanches and starts dragging him back away from the procession. “Shut up,” he hisses frantically, and Shouyou frowns. “That's Akaashi Keiji. Everybody knows he belongs to Itachiyama, and Itachiyama's Head is really nasty, this is something to do with them. We should leave.”

Shouyou looks back, watching as the group continues down the street. “He doesn't seem like he likes them very much.” To put it mildly. Under all the sadness and anguish was _anger_ , fierce and bright. 

“Of course he doesn't, he's practically a pet.”

Shouyou feels himself freeze up, horrified. “But he's a person!”

“He's a very powerful chimera,” Yamaguchi says, pulling him away from the crowds. Shouyou watches as a hand appears from inside the palanquin to tug on Akaashi's clothing. He seems resigned, and with a slight flap of his wings for extra air he jumps up into the palanquin. The inky black curtains shut around them, and the procession continues as if nothing had happened. “He's an Eagle Owl chimera, one of the strongest. All of the big covens have four or five chimeras that they use like batteries for magic. And not like Suga and Daichi, they drain them over and over. Akaashi's really famous because he's so strong, he's part of why none of the Red Path covens will fight Itachiyama for territory.”

“That's awful!”

“I didn't say it was right.” Yamaguchi tugs him down a side street, hurrying them away from where the procession had been. “Come _on_ , Daichi's going to be mad if I don't get you there on time. Fukurodani's going to be out in force tonight and he wants everyone inside, that's why we're all having dinner together tonight.”

“What's a Fukurodani?”

“They're like Itachiyama. They're a Red Path coven, but they're pretty okay. They mostly traffic in hard to get items and weapons and run casinos and stuff. They're friendly with Karasuno, you can talk to them if you want, just don't make them any promises. They're like, the definition of chaotic neutral. Their main leader just got killed in a fight yesterday, though, so they're going out to do his wake and duke it out for who'll be the next Head even though everyone knows who'll win.” Yamaguchi finds a blank wall, pulls out a scrap of paper, and draws a quick array. “This isn't going to be fun, brace yourself.”

“What?”

Yamaguchi slaps the paper against the wall and an ugly blue and yellow tinted void appears on it. “Here we go!”

He shoves Shouyou through, and for a brief, horrifying moment it feels like everything in him is being pulled in every direction. Shouyou bites back a scream, and is about to panic when he tumbles out onto a wooden floor, highly polished and well maintained- the floor of the cafe. For a second his stomach lurches, but Yamaguchi appears next to him and helps him up. 

“What was _that_ ,” Shouyou demands, amazed. “You just- and we just- WHOOSH!”

“Um.” Yamaguchi seems surprised. “Haven't you ever portalled before?”

Shouyou lights up, looking back. The portal vanishes in on itself, leaving only a scrap of burnt paper behind. “Whaoooo, you can portal?! That's portalling?! That's so cool! Can you teach me?!”

“Uh-”

“ _What_ is going on here?” Daichi calls, walking around to look at them. They're in the back of the bookstore area of the cafe, it seems. “Yamaguchi, why didn't you just walk back?”

“We got lost, and then we saw some of Itachiyama,” Yamaguchi blurts out. “I didn't want to risk them seeing us and getting mad so I just portalled us away instead.”

Daichi goes very pale. “Itachiyama was over the boundary lines?”

“No, no, we were near their boundary! I think we might have accidentally passed into their territory. Hinata got told by a bluebird-”

“Fuku's a magpie!”

“A magpie that there was someone hurt, so he went with the magpie and it turned out the magpie was talking about Akaashi-san.” Yamaguchi's actually shaking. “None of them saw us, we made sure to get away really fast!”

Daichi shakes his head, running a hand over his hair. “Give me the bags, go upstairs and take a cleansing bath. If you were in Itachiyama territory there might be things lingering on you and I don't want you accidentally setting off any traps. Hinata, once you've washed come back and talk to me.”

Shouyou's heart sinks. “I'm sorry-”

“I don't care if you're sorry, I care if you do it again. Clearly you need to know more about the city before I let you go outside again. Go wash and then we'll talk.” He turns on his heel and walks away, and Shouyou slumps. Not even a full day into his training and he's already in trouble.

“C'mon,” Yamaguchi says, tugging on his arm. “We've gotta go wash.”

Shouyou follows him up the stairs, guilt sitting heavy in his stomach. He'd just wanted to help.

They take a bath with lavender, sage, and some sort of smelly thing that reeks like death but leaves Shouyou's skin silky smooth. Yamaguchi doesn't talk during it, just checks to make sure that Shouyou gets covered head to toe and gets his hair clean before leaving. Shouyou takes his time drying off, and when he's done he leaves the bathroom to find Tanaka standing there, grinning at him.

“Heard from Daichi you went for a stroll on the wild side,” he grins. “Nice. You're ballsy, I like you.”

“I didn't know!” Shouyou wails, and Tanaka laughs, clapping him on the back.

“Even better! C'mon, let's go up to the dojo.”

Shouyou follows him up to the wide, open space on the fourth floor. The flooring is wood, highly polished and beautiful, and massive windows let in lots of light with open skylights letting in fresh air. He breathes a little easier just being in there, away from the tight enclosure of his room and the classrooms. Daichi's waiting on a mat with Suga, and there's a map of the city on top of a little table. Shouyou sits with them as Tanaka goes over to where Ennoshita's working on some sort of potion at a worktable in the corner, presumably to heckle him.

“Since you've already had a bit of a run in, I outlined a map,” Suga says, smiling at him. “It's color coded so you can see which covens control which territory.” 

Shouyou looks at the map and the little color key that Suga's made. Karasuno's inky black is by far the smallest, little more than 12 square blocks. Fukurodani in gray borders them, as does Shinzen, Nekoma, and Aoba Johsai. Nekoma's bright red encompasses a massive portion, as does Fukurodani's. Itachiyama borders Aoba Johsai in purple, Shinzen in neon pink and Ubugawa in orange close to them. Nohebi is clear in the far corner of the map, but controls a giant district in dark green.

“These are the districts you're welcome in,” Suga says, tapping the map. “Aoba Johsai, Fukurodani, Shinzen, Ubugawa, and Nekoma. You are _not_ to go into Nohebi or Itachiyama, understood? They aren't friendly with us. Shinzen, Ubugawa, and Aoba Johsai are normal covens, they'll welcome anyone technically. Fukurodani and Nekoma are Red Path covens. Yakuza, you understand? They tolerate us, but we aren't their allies or their enemies. If they get annoyed, they could easily destroy us. Never, _ever_ go to Nohebi's territory without authorization. Itachiyama might let you off with a beating because we aren't antagonistic towards them, but Nohebi hate us almost as much as they hate Nekoma. Do _not_ go there.”

“Why does Nohebi hate us so much?” Shouyou asks, looking at the map.

Suga and Daichi exchange looks. 

“It's a long story,” Daichi says bluntly, “and not one that concerns you right now. It's not a very happy story.” Daichi folds up the map and hands it over to him. “I'm going to give the others one as well, but be careful, Hinata.”

“I will,” he promises.

oOo

Shouyou absolutely means to stay inside that night, but once the place quiets down and it hits about 11 at night, he feels like he's being suffocated in the box of a building. He's grown up in a traditional home, with tatami mats and sliding doors, and this big brick thing makes him feel like he's being strangled. He thrashes in his bed until 11:30, opens the window, shuts the window, tries to read and fails, walks out onto the balcony for fresh out but just feels stuck, and finally accepts defeat.

Sneaking out is really easy. The wards aren't difficult to break and replace, and he remembers to lock the main door when he leaves. Just stepping out of the building eases him a little, but he's still very awake and full of energy. He turns a corner to a street he hasn't been on before, making sure he has his map in his pocket, and heads down the road. There are still people out, and cars in the roads. It's so noisy in the city, but it's noisy in the country too- just a different kind of noisy, one full of tree sounds and birds singing in the evening, terrible screechy songs about sex. The pedestrians don't so much as blink at him, and he wanders here and there, always making note of how to get back.

The night is bright and vibrant and open and Shouyou loves every second of it. He walks down the street, looking around at the big, brilliant signs, and notices there's a park across the way. It's a small one, with a little gazebo covering a sitting area and tall established trees, and he crosses the street to go look at it. 

He's within the boundaries, he's sure, but he checks the map just in case. Two more blocks and he'll be out, but for now he's safe.

He tucks it back in his pocket, whistling as he walks up to the gazebo. It's a big, lovely one, in the traditional pagoda style, all red and black and gorgeous with a bench and-

AND A PERSON INSIDE.

He shrieks, and the person's head jerks up. It's a big, bulky guy, with hair dyed white and grey, and he's got tear tracks all down his face.

“I-I-I'm so sorry, I didn't see you!” Shouyou apologizes, quickly bowing. 

“No problem,” the man says, scrubbing at his face, and Shouyou's about to leave when something makes him pause.

“Hey,” he says, and walks into the gazebo. “Are you hurt? What's wrong?”

The man looks up at him with big, golden eyes. He's even bulkier up close, with broad shoulders and thighs almost as thick as Daichi's, and he looks so sad it hurts. Hinata fishes out a pack of tissues from his pocket and hands them over.

“Thanks,” the man says, blinking at them a couple times before pulling one out. “I'm not hurt, I'm just... it's been a really shitty year for me, chibi-chan. And my life got really really complicated today.”

Shouyou sits down on the bench next to him, swinging his feet. “I know what you mean! I mean, your life might be a lot worse than mine but today's been _awful_. I got in a lot of trouble for doing something I thought was the right thing, and I have a really awful roommate who yelled at me a bunch, and I don't have any friends here yet. It's really sucked. I'm Hinata Shouyou, by the way!”

The man blows his nose. “Bokuto Koutarou. Did you just move here today?”

“Yep!” Shouyou looks up at the rafters, and coos with excitement. “Aw, look! Mud swallow nests! I bet the babies are going to be hatching soon.”

“I love mud swallows,” Bokuto tells him with a watery smile. “They're really cute and sassy. I didn't think birds could be sassy, but these ones are.”

“Yeah!” Shouyou beams at him. “I love birds. I like corvids the best. They're so smart and funny, and they can teach you all kinds of things, and they like to play in the snow! There was a really big flock of crows where I lived in Miyagi, and I made friends with them.”

“I like owls,” Bokuto says, and he's smiling now and it even reaches his eyes. “Really big, fat, fluffy ones. Especially the really big owls, like Eagle Owls.”

“Eagle owls and great horned owls and screech owls are _super_ cool,” Shouyou says, and means it. “Everyone likes snowy owls because they're so pretty, but I think my favorites are those little long leg owls that they have in America that live in desserts.”

“Burrowing owls!”

“Yeah!” Shouyou beams. “They're so cute! They run around so fast, and they always look so surprised. They're so cute. I bet they'd yell at me and try and jump on my head if I tried to make friends with them.”

That surprises a laugh out of Bokuto, and Shouyou feels accomplished.

“I like you, Hinata,” Bokuto says, clapping him on the shoulder. His hand is enormous, the palm wide and sturdy. “I don't think I've actually smiled in weeks.”

“That's really sad, Bokuto-san,” Hinata says, looking up at him. “D'you want to talk about it?”

Bokuto gives him a long look, then nods. “Yeah, actually. If you want to listen.”

“Of course! No one ever wants to talk about birds with me,” Shouyou says, and Bokuto smiles at that before leaning back against the railing of the gazebo. 

“I just got promoted, but I got promoted in a really underhanded way. Some friends- or I guess they're kind of my partners? Anyway, they arranged for it to happen, and I don't know if I'm actually good enough to handle the job,” Bokuto says, looking up at the swallow nests. The swallows themselves are fast asleep, quiet in their little homes. “I'm... I guess it's kind of like I'm a pawn in bigger plans. Good plans, I swear, they're trying to do something that'll save a lot of lives actually, but I'm going to have to learn how to be a leader at my job really fast and I don't think I'm any good at it. And...” his voice cracks a little and he clears his throat. “About this time a year ago, the person I love was taken away from me.”

“That's awful,” Shouyou breathes. “Did... did they die?”

“Worse,” Bokuto says, his voice breaking on the word, and he pulls out a tissue from the pack again. “We didn't want to break up. We're in love, real love, but my boss at the time basically sold him to some other people to make sure a trade deal went through. And now we're forbidden to see each other. We only see each other about every six months, for maybe an hour.”

He lifts his hand to wipe at his eyes, and his long sleeves pull up just enough to expose some of his forearm. There's an array tattooed on his arm, just peeking out from the bottom of his sleeve.

Shouyou gasps. “You're a mage!”

Bokuto's head turns lightning quick to him, but Shouyou beams at him.

“I'm a witch! A Flight witch!”

“No way,” Bokuto says, a smile flashing onto his face. “I've only met maybe three others before! That's so cool!”

“ _You're_ a mage, you're super cool!” Shouyou gushes. “Did- was it your coven? Did they force out your boyfriend?”

“Yeah.” Bokuto's smile fades. “I miss him so bad.”

“Sometimes covens are the worst,” Shouyou says, propping his chin in his hands, elbows on his knees. “I've never learned _any_ Flight magic because there was no one who could teach me, and everyone said it was useless anyway. I don't think so.”

“Flight magic is super useful,” Bokuto says, indignant. “Your old coven is rude.”

“Right?! So rude!”

Bokuto wipes his eyes clear. “Anyway, they took him away from me. And I don't know how I'm ever going to get him back. At least they didn't take him out of the city.”

“Tell me about him,” Shouyou says, smiling at him. “What's he like? Is he a Flight mage too? Is he handsome?”

“So handsome,” Bokuto says, sighing with longing. “He's not a Flight mage, I wish he was. He's got these beautiful hands, and he never seems like he's got his eyes open all the way. He's really graceful, and smart, and he talks with his mouth full and _never_ apologizes for it because he's a huge dork too. He dresses nice but he keeps jeans until they're nothing but holes, and he thinks sweatpants are too hot so he wears these billow cotton pants when he can and they're always so soft and he looks like something you want to just cuddle up to. He always leaves the lights on because he gets distracted and forgets to turn them off, and he hates doing dishes with everything in his body. He reads super fast, and he chewed me out over everything if I got down on myself, and kissing him is like kissing the sun. It burns you up inside but you just want to dive into it just to feel what it's like to hold a star in your hands.”

Shouyou stares up at him in awe. “He sounds _amazing_.”

“He _is_ ,” Bokuto groans, tipping his head back. “He's perfect. I miss him so much.”

“But your friends who made sure about your promotion, are they trying to help you get him back?”

“Yeah.” Bokuto nods, sighing heavily. “Who knows how long it'll take though. And I've got to figure out how to be a leader in the meantime.”

“Why not get some books about it?”

Bokuto turns to look at him, raising his eyebrows. 

“You know,” Shouyou says, sitting up a little. “They make help books for _everything_. They've gotta have some for learning how to be a good leader.”

“You're right!” Bokuto nods, thoughtful. “I'll have to do that.”

“I'm part of Karasuno,” Shouyou tells him. “We have a bookshop that we run, with a cafe! I could check for you tomorrow if you're busy, or you could come in!”

“That'd be great.”

Shouyou fishes out his phone and passes it over. “Here! Put in your number! So I can bring some to you, or we can talk about birds or Flight magic!”

“Yeah!”

They exchange numbers and LINE, and Shouyou beams at him as he puts his phone away. 

“I'm really glad I met you,” he says sincerely, and Bokuto looks absolutely pole-axed for a second. “I'm all alone here, and I've never been to the city before, but now I know someone who likes birds and knows Flight magic _and_ has a cool boyfriend even if he doesn't get to see him much. That's great! I didn't even think I'd meet many people who like boys, never mind people who like birds and magic and boys all together. And you have really cool hair!”

“Hinata,” Bokuto says, a smile growing on his face, “you ever need _anything_ , you let me know, okay? I'll make damn sure you get it.”

“I will!” Shouyou grins at him. “I want to be a mage one day!”

Bokuto ruffles his hair. “You'll make a great one. Hey, want to learn some Flight magic?”

Shouyou gasps. “ _Yes_.”

Bokuto pulls out some chalk from his pocket and rolls up his sleeve to show him the array closest to his hand. “Copy this array on the floor.”

Shouyou takes the chalk and carefully draws out the array, tongue sticking out a little as he concentrates. He has his own chalk, not that he uses it much, but Bokuto's is nice and it's in a fancy silver holder so it doesn't get on his fingers. It's a pretty simple array, a circle with four runes inside and hash marks at certain spots on the circle. Once he's sure he has it right, he steps back, and Bokuto looks it over.

“Perfect,” he says, kneeling down next to him. “Okay so, can you figure out what this array is for?”

“Umm...” Shouyou squints at the runes. “That's Flight, and that's... Soul? And this is Hope, and this is... ummm.... I know it, just give me a second. Oh! This one's Spirit!” He beams, proud. “And the circle's an enclosure, but the edge marks mean... you can let something out that's under your control!”

“Right! So, what does it do?”

Shouyou looks at the circle, frowning. “Is... is this a summoning circle?”

“Close!” Bokuto smiles, clearly very pleased. “You're really close. This is a creation circle!”

Shouyou gasps, excited. “Really!?”

“Watch,” Bokuto says, winking at him. He runs his finger over the array on his arm, murmuring a soft, “ _Activate_ ,” and the tattoo glows brilliant white. Slowly, the white light grows and solidifies, growing bigger and bigger until on his arm sits a huge, glowing white screech owl. Shouyou gapes, amazed.

“This is a friend,” Bokuto says, and the screech owl hops onto the top of his head, big wings ruffling. Shouyou's eyes follow it, amazed. “For when you need to get a message to someone, or if you're lonely. Flight magic can bring you someone to spend time with. You can make someone to help you. Think of it like a familiar. Arrays make them easier to bring out, but you can bring them out just by tying a spell string to the array once you activate it the first time. Your bird becomes an extension of you- you can store magic in them, and call on them to help you whenever you need. But they all get their own personalities! They're an extension of your own heart and soul.” Bokuto reaches up to pet the screech owl. “Only bird chimeras and people with Flight magic will be able to see them unless you want them to be seen. This is Kayah.”

“So, when I start the array, I'll have one forever?” Shouyou gasps, looking down at the chalk.

“Yep! And I'll help you make a spell string to call it to you whenever you need.”

Shouyou blinks back tears. A _friend_ , a bird friend to come with him wherever he wants, always with him. Bokuto silently hands him the tissues with wide eyes, and Shouyou laughs a little.

“I just activate it, right?” he says, and Bokuto nods. 

“Nothing special to it!”

Shouyou reaches down and runs his fingers over the array, pressing his palm flat to it. “ _Activate_.”

The array glows brilliant white, and he gasps as the light shoots up into the air in beams, pulling his hand away. The array glows as the light congeals, and slowly a shape takes form. The legs come first, sturdy claws growing, and then leading up short legs to a long, lean body and smooth round head, clever eyes, and smooth beak. The eyes burn into him, and something just _clicks_ inside of his chest. 

“Hi,” Shouyou says, tears dripping down his face without him even noticing. The carrion crow, common to rural Miyagi, looks at him and immediately flies up to stand on his lap and look up at Shouyou's face. His clever eyes blink as his head tips back and forth, and he opens his beak to let out a happy _crawk_. “Hi, Atsuko, I'm so happy to see you!” The name comes to him in an instant, perfect on his tongue.

Atsuko leans forward to nuzzle against his face, and he feels just like the crows that Shouyou loves so much. Shouyou carefully reaches up, stroking down his back. He feels solid, reassuring in how sturdy he is despite how there's no warmth to him. He's a creature of light and memory, but Shouyou laughs as Atsuko nibbles at his ear and then hops up to sit on his shoulder.

Bokuto beams at him, and Shouyou bursts into happy tears. _Flight magic_ , real Flight magic!

“Thank you,” he says, wiping the tears away as Bokuto comes around the array and hugs him tight. “Thank you, thank you, I love him so much.”

“Of course! Here, let me show you how to make the spell string for him.”

Bokuto teaches him the words, and Shouyou practices over and over until they're familiar in his mouth. 

“Thank you so much,” Shouyou says as Atsuko preens through his hair. “Thank you.”

“Hey, it's the least I can do for my new little kouhai.”

Shouyou laughs. “Thank you, Bokuto-senpai!”

Bokuto beams at him, and with a wave of his hand the array is washed out so no one can stumble across it. “Come on, let's get you back. I should be getting back to my coven too.”

“Aww.” Shouyou stands up, watching as Kayah spreads her enormous wings to balance on top of Bokuto's head. It's funny to watch, but she hops off of his head to land on his sturdy arm, and hoots at him. Atsuko _grawks_ back at her, and sticks his beak in Shouyou's ear to make him giggle.

Bokuto walks with him across the street and down the blocks to where Karasuno's building is. He smiles up at it, pleased. “I like it! The cafe looks really good.”

“It is! Will you come tomorrow?” Shouyou asks hopefully.

“If I can,” Bokuto says, sighing a little. “I might be craaazy busy. But if I can get away I'll totally come!”

“If you can't all look for the books anyway!” Shouyou beams up at him. “You're going to be a great leader!”

Bokuto ruffles his hair, beaming. “I like you,” he announces, and Shouyou is so happy to see that smile on his face.

“I'll see you later!”

Bokuto waves goodbye to him, and Shouyou easily unlocks the wards on the door and slips inside, making sure to relock them without leaving a trace of his magic. Crows are very good at teaching breaking and entering. He sneaks up the stairs, disabling then re enabling the wards on the fifth stair, and slips into his apartment and room without waking Kageyama. Atsuko flies off of his shoulder to perch on top of the bookshelf, and _kaws_ happily.

“I know, right?” Shouyou says once his door is locked. “Today wasn't so bad after all!”

There's a firm knock on the door, and Shouyou narrowly avoids screaming.

Slowly, he inches the door open.

Daichi stares down at him, and he does not look happy.

“H-hi Sawamura-san.”

“I heard you come up the stairs. Come with me,” Daichi says. He doesn't seem to notice as Atsuko flies down to Shouyou's shoulder, and leads him out of the room. Shouyou wonders if, when Daichi kicks him out, Bokuto will let him join his coven.

They go down to the cafe, and Daichi waves him into a seat at one of the little tables. Shouyou sits down, red faced, and stares at the table.

“First of all,” Daichi says, his voice soft but not gentle, “I want to know where you went.”

“I went to the park,” Shouyou mumbles, twisting his fingers together. “The little one a block away from here.”

Daichi sighs. “ _Why_ did you sneak out to go to the park?”

Shouyou stares down at the table. “The city's really pretty, you know? It's just... it's really big. And noisy. And concrete. I've never been anywhere like it before. I just wanted to be by some trees!” He looks up, and sees Daichi doesn't look too mad. He dares to continue. “I don't do well cooped up inside. I- I get all panicky.”

“You're claustrophobic?”

Shouyou shakes his head. “No, I like small spaces, I just... I can't stand being locked into a box.”

Daichi's expression softens a little. “So you broke out of the box to go be in the open air.”

“Yeah.” He pulls the map out of his pocket to show Daichi. “I was really careful! I made sure I didn't go into any other territory!”

“At least there's that.” Daichi sighs, sitting back and crossing his arms. “And at least you weren't the only one who slipped out. Kageyama went for a run too.” Shouyou's eyebrows shoot up. “I know. I wasn't expecting that either. He's already gotten his lecture. Look, Hinata, I'll make you a deal. If you need to go out and take a breather, please just wake me up and let me know before you go anywhere, okay? I don't want to have to tell your mom that you got killed the first week you came to the city because you went out for a run without anyone knowing.”

“Sorry,” Shouyou mumbles.

Daichi rubs his forehead. “Do you know any defensive magic?”

“I'm good at fire spells!”

Daichi looks at him for a long moment, his face unreadable. “Hinata, this city isn't a peaceful place. It really, really isn't. Karasuno flies under the radar because there's so few of us but there's a lot of dangerous people out there. People who won't hesitate to grab a young witch and put them to work in a bad kind of way.”

Shouyou cocks his head. “I don't understand.”

“You don't have to. At least, not right now. Just promise me you'll be very careful when you go out by yourself.”

“I will.”

Daichi sighs. “You're good at breaking in and out of wards, aren't you?”

“The crows taught me,” Shouyou tells him. “They're really good at shredding magic apart. Pigeons can do it too, but that's just if they're carrying spirits that have unfinished business and need the attention. Crows can get in anywhere.”

“That's not reassuring,” Daichi mutters. Atsuko shifts on Shouyou's shoulder and nuzzles against him. “Alright. Go up to bed. I'm going to train you on how to do the cafe work tomorrow, and we have to start getting ready for the banquet.”

“Okay, Sawamura-san.”

“Daichi-san is fine.”

“Okay, Daichi-san.”

Daichi waves him away, and Shouyou hurries back up the stairs to their room.

Kageyama's door is open when he gets back into the little apartment, and he hesitates when he sees Kageyama sitting on his bed, head in his hands. His shirt is bunched awkwardly on his back, like his shoulder blades are hunched so hard they stick out. He looks sick and angry all at once.

“Hey, you okay?”

Kageyama jerks. “Wh- hey! Where were you?”

“I went out to the park,” Shouyou says, defensive. “Daichi-san says you went out too.”

“Stupid,” Kageyama snaps, standing up. “You could have gotten killed.”

“Oh, what, and you wouldn't have?” Shouyou crosses his arms over his chest as Atsuko puffs up on his shoulder. “You're no better than me, Bakageyama.”

Kageyama positively snarls at him, hands going into fists. “I've got more power than you and I at least know how to _use_ it. You're just a witch with a bit of fire magic and Flight magic. What could you even do if someone attacked you, huh? Throw fire at them and run?”

That was essentially Shouyou's plan, but he isn't about to admit it. “Shut up, you asshole,” he snaps. “As if you're so much better.”

“I am.”

Shouyou sticks out his tongue and flips him off, and stomps to his room. He doesn't slam the door, as much as he wants to, but he does lock it and grab his pillow to scream into it as Atsuko growls and hops onto his head.

It's been a long, long day.

oOo

He gets up early, knocks on the door that reads 1-2, and is treated to the sight of Daichi's extremely thick legs in absolutely tiny running shorts. His brain shorts out a little when he stammers about going for a run, but Daichi just groans and waves him off.

“You and half this goddamn building,” he mutters. “Do you have the map?”

“Yes!” He holds it out triumphantly. Atsuko, perched on his head, squawks his pride at remembering it. 

“Good. Be back by 7 for training at the register.”

“Yes!”

He all but launches himself out the door and into the brilliant morning sunlight. It's a wonderful spring day, fresh and clean, and Atsuko takes flight beside him. He runs through the park, meets the mud swallow families, runs to the grocery store to test his memory and buy a couple apples, runs around the entire stretch of Karasuno's territory, and then runs back to the store and arrives at 6:30 on the dot. He feels better after, showers quickly, and gets dressed in Karasuno's neat black polo and some black jeans. Very classy, he thinks to himself, and with Atsuko on his shoulder he goes down to the cafe. It doesn't open til 8, but they apparently do decent business with the covens in the area and their coffee is good so they get a normal crowd as well. Daichi takes one look at Kageyama's customer service smile and tells him he is never, ever going to be at the register. He takes one look at Hinata frantically trying to fix a machine and decides he is never, ever going to be doing anything more than fetching foods and helping in the book section. That's good enough for Shouyou.

Their books are nicely varied. It's not a big shop, but they bring in lots of eclectic and popular things, and the real spell books are in a small side room marked with the rune for “Entrance”. Shouyou likes the shop.

He knows he's not exactly going to like customers, but he survived working a supermarket job for nearly two years, so he can't be all bad at it.

Atsuko stays perched on his head through training, moving with him and watching with interest. Shouyou feels happier just having him there, and almost forgets that others can't see him until Suga comes down the stairs with a happy smile on his face and freezes.

“H-hinata!”

Shouyou turns. “Oh, hi Suga-”

“Wha- where-” Suga stares at Atsuko. “I didn't know you had one.”

“Oh!” Shouyou reaches up and Atsuko hops onto his hands, squawking. “This is Atsuko. _Reveal_.”

Daichi about jumps out of his skin as Atsuko apparently becomes visible to everyone. Suga stares, and Atsuko _grawks_ at him. Shouyou hides his smile as Suga's wings fluff up in surprise.

“He's my friend!” Shouyou continues happily, gently stroking the top of Atsuko's head. “His kanji are the ones for kindness and child!”

“He? Atsuko's a girls name,” Kageyama says, but he doesn't sound mad. He's actually inching closer to them. He doesn't seem surprised, strangely- more as if he just wants to look closer. Daichi is still staring, hand over his heart and pressed up against the display box with the pastries.

“It doesn't have to be! It's traditionally a girls name, but so's Haruka and Makoto and those are getting popular for boys,” Shouyou says hotly. “His name is Atsuko and that's that. It's just who he is.”

Kageyama nods, and Atsuko hops up onto Shouyou's shoulder again and _grawks_.

“Wh- what is that?” Daichi says at last. 

“He's my friend!” 

Suga gently touches Daichi's shoulder, soothing him. “It's a piece of Flight magic. Atsuko is an extension of Hinata, sort of like a servitor made from his own being. He's not dangerous. They carry messages sometimes. They're... I guess you could say he's a familiar.”

“But what's he made out of?”

Atsuko starts preening through Shouyou's hair and he leans into it.

“Magic, soul, substantiated light? I don't know, he's magic.” Suga gently kisses Daichi's cheek. “You're okay, you big baby. He's a carrion crow, not a jungle crow.”

“Jungle crows are terrifying.”

“Our shop is _literally_ named after crows!”

“Jungle crows are still scary!”

Shouyou laughs, and holds out his arm. Atsuko hops down onto it and squawks at Daichi, cocking his head. “You can touch him, if you want!”

Daichi carefully steps in, and reaches out a shaky hand to gently stroke Atsuko's wing. He blinks, and straightens up when he makes contact. “Feathers, just like a real bird. He's just cold.”

“Yep!”

Atsuko tolerates some more gently stroking before flying back to stand on Hinata's head again.

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi of course choose this moment to emerge from the upstairs, and stare blankly at the white crow perched on Shouyou's head.

“What the hell,” Tsukishima says after a beat, sighing. “I don't know if I'm even able to be surprised by anything anymore. He better not poop on anything.”

“Rude!”

Shouyou hides Atsuko away from everyone's sight once again when they officially open up, and under Suga's watchful eye they carry about their business. When he and Kageyama aren't sniping at each other they make a decent team, and despite his nerves the morning rush goes without much of an issue. At least, it does right up until a very tall man with brown hair steps up to the counter at the very end of it all. The place has mostly emptied out. Suga quietly sneaks around Shouyou and nudges him out of the way.

Brown-hair-guy, who looks like he could be a model, is dressed in a three piece suit, and is easily six feet tall, examines Shouyou with eyes that seem to see _every_ tiny flaw he's ever thought about. Shouyou suddenly wonders if he has something on his face, or if he's actually possibly just a sack of flesh that should get incinerated. Brown-hair-guy is very, very intimidating.

“What's this?” he says, his voice a light, high tenor. Off to the side, Kageyama jerks. “Fresh meat, Refreshing-kun?”

“So nice to see you, Tooru. These are two of our first years.” Suga smiles at him, and Shouyou notices how suddenly Daichi's staring very, very intently at the panini press. “It's been a bit. I take it you've been busy as well?”

“As ever,” Tooru says with a sigh. “We have some rambunctious children this time-” He stops, and his face goes hard. He flicks a finger, and Kageyama stiffly turns around, eyes fixing on the floor. Tooru's eyes narrow. “ _You_.”

“H-hello, Oikawa-san.”

Oikawa Tooru, then, Shouyou decides. But why does Kageyama look so nervous?

“I didn't recognize you with your hair like that,” Oikawa says, lips pressing into a thin line. “What are you doing in my city, Tobio-chan?”

Kageyama stares at the floor as if he's hoping it'll open up and swallow him. “I-I was kicked out. For good. They made it clear I wasn't wanted. Karasuno agreed to take me and teach me. I'm very grateful to them.”

Suga's face has gone still and dangerous, but Oikawa flicks his finger again and Kageyama relaxes a little.

“Incredible,” Oikawa murmurs, his eyes dark. “I take it you've learned a valuable lesson, then.”

“Yes, Oikawa-san.”

Oikawa drums long, scarred fingers on the counter top. It looks like someone's taken knives to his fingers, leaving them with thin white lines all around them. Maybe even that his hand was smashed and had to be reconstructed- some of the fingers are slightly crooked. “Koucchan, I'd like a word.”

Kageyama actually flinches as if he's been hit, but Suga just nods and walks out from around the counter, leading Oikawa away to the back of the bookshelves. 

“What was that about?” Shouyou asks, and Kageyama growls at him.

“None of your business,” he snaps, grabbing a rag to wipe things down. Shouyou inches closer to him, bracing his elbows on the back counter. 

“But he knew you. Is he from Miyagi too?”

“ _Fuck off_ ,” Kageyama growls, so low and deep and genuinely angry that Shouyou decides not to push his luck and backs off. Daichi watches Kageyama for a moment before sighing, slinging a towel on his shoulder.

“Take a break a cool off,” he says, no room for argument in his voice. “Hinata and I can handle it here.”

Kageyama hesitates for a second before nodding sharply and disappearing into the back room, presumably to cool down. Daichi takes the time to show Shouyou how a few more things work, and he overhears raised voices in the stacks.

“-Zawa! You know their reputation-”

“He's been excommunicated,” and that has to be Suga, harsh and firm. “Don't stick him in with you, Tooru. I know you better, I don't care what he was-”

“You don't understand what-”

The voices fade down again, and Shouyou wipes down the counter carefully until it shines. The morning rush is gone for good, but it seems they're a popular place for sandwiches in the afternoon for lunch, so it'll still be somewhat busy later on. Shouyou doesn't look at the clock, but he does note how pretty the shadows move with the tables and chairs inside to shed them.

“Two of them!” Oikawa's voice comes out strong again, sounding more frustrated than angry now. “Two of them, Koucchan, and Tobio-”

“I _know_. He made a mistake, Tooru!”

Daichi's hands go tight on the stack of cups.

“Who is that?” Shouyou asks when Daichi puts the stack down.

“Oikawa Tooru is the head of Aoba Johsai Coven,” Daichi says, through slightly gritted teeth. “He and Suga go way back. They're friends. Kind of.”

Shouyou makes a face, bracing his elbows on the counter. “Kind of?”

“They're rivals,” Daichi explains, putting things away. “Oikawa's specialty is magical energy transference. He's almost as powerful as a standard chimera, but he works five times as hard to get there. He's a Channeler for mages and witches, he refines magic to the point of best usability to the mage or witch. And he can regulate it enough that witches can use it, which is incredible. He's good with witches who are just starting the path to becoming a mage, he knows exactly how much power to give them. And he's no slouch when it comes to aggressive magic either.” Daichi's face contorts a few times before he reluctantly adds, “He's also a good teacher. Suga, being a chimera, always had a leg up on him. But Oikawa outclassed him, and still outclasses him in Channelling. So they're friendly, but they're still rivals.”

“I want a rival,” Shouyou mutters, and Daichi laughs.

“I'm sure you'll get one eventually.”

Oikawa and Suga emerge from the stacks, apparently calm, and Suga silently returns to the counter to fill up a cup and put a ridiculous amount of espresso shots in. Oikawa looks exhausted and haunted, and Shouyou hides back a bit while Suga works.

“You look like you've lost weight,” Suga says, grabbing a sandwich out of the case. “Stop it.”

“I could stand to-”

“No, you can't,” Suga says, stopping him as he puts the lid on. “Don't fight me. I'll call Iwaizumi and tell him.”

Oikawa makes a face, but takes the cup with no small amount of relief.

“How's your knee?” Suga asks, his voice a little softer.

“Ugly,” Oikawa says, smiling wryly. “They tell em the scars are always going to be bad. It's healing well though. Have you heard anything about Fukurodani's new head yet?”

“I can take a guess,” Suga says, shrugging. His wings shift against his back, the feathers rustling a little. Atsuko hops from Shouyou's shoulder over to the counter where Suga's standing, and begins gently preening him. Some of the tension in Suga's shoulders eases. “I don't think we'll have an official statement until this evening as to who won, but I think everyone knows who's next in line. It'll be an interesting change.”

Oikawa nods, grimacing. “I'm not excited to host the banquet with this kind of atmosphere, but it can't be helped. Just... be careful.”

“I will.” Suga puts his hand over Oikawa's, and Daichi is suddenly very interested in the napkins. Shouyou doesn't dare move in case he gets caught between the two. “Don't worry too much about me. Worry about your own problems.”

“As if I worry about you,” Oikawa sniffs, but it's an obvious lie. “I'll see you soon, Koucchan.”

Suga waves him off, and when Oikawa walks out the door Suga says mildly, “Hinata, maybe you could go take your break now, hmm?”

“S-s-sure,” Shouyou says, and Atsuko hops onto his shoulder as he flees into the stacks. Daichi doesn't look happy. 

He finds a couple of different books on leadership that look good, and pulls out his phone. Natsu's sent a picture of a happy fat cat in the garden, his mom is asking if he's eating okay, and there's a picture of a laughing owl from Bokuto. He beams, and opens the one from Bokuto to reply.

 _Text to: Bokuto-senpai!_  
I found some leadership books! We had a bunch. Do you want to get them or should I bring them to you???

Bokuto texts back almost immediately.

 **Text from: Bokuto-senpai!**  
!!! THANKS!! I can meet you at the park, it's been way busy today. Mby about three?

 _Text to: Bokuto-senpai!_  
Sure! I'll see you there!!!!!

He gathers them up in his arms and when he deems it safe returns to the counter, where Daichi and Suga look much calmer and their lips are a little swollen. He puts the books on the counter, pays while the two of them are still swooning over each other, and takes them upstairs to his room without them saying a word.

oOo

He switches out with Narita and Ennoshita about 2 in the afternoon, and Daichi catches him and Kageyama as they're about to enter their apartment to get changed.

“Here,” he says, handing them a list. “This is things we need for the banquet. Since you two apparently can't stand to be inside too long, go run and get them.”

Shouyou grimaces. “Can't I go by myself?” Kageyama seems to be on the same page, so Shouyou gestures at him. “He'll scare people with that frowny face of his!”

“Absolutely not, this is a lot for one person to carry. Take the fabric bags.” Daichi rolls his eyes, sighing. “And try not to get lost. I know you two have been exploring a little but the last thing I need is having to come pick you up from some other territory and having to call in favors so we don't get penalized for it.”

They both nod, and Shouyou pauses when he looks at the time. It's 2:45, and he's supposed to meet Bokuto at 3. He hurries and pulls on a fresh uniform shirt from the pile on his bed and grabs the bag of books from his room. Kageyama gets the fabric bags from their hook in the downstairs kitchen and they head out the door, Atsuko riding on his shoulder. 

“I need to swing by the park and drop something off,” Shouyou tells Kageyama, who makes a face at him.

“What?”

“It's a gift, for a friend!”

“You have friends?”

“You're really mean, you know that?” Shouyou glares at him. “Look, I can go by myself and meet you at the grocery store, okay?”

Kageyama looks away. “Fine by me. Don't get killed.”

Shouyou sticks his tongue out at him again and hurries away. The park isn't far, and he's delighted when he sees Bokuto in the gazebo, looking up at the mud swallows. There's someone else with him, a man with dirty blond hair and a lazy sort of smile, who watches as he approaches. The second man is in an all black suit with sleek leather gloves on his hands, but Bokuto's just in jeans and a t-shirt that fits tight to his body with a white jacket thrown on top.

“What's this?” the second man says as Shouyou steps into the gazebo. 

“This is Hinata!” Bokuto says, smiling wide. He looks like he might have had a rough night, his fingers bandaged and a bruise on one cheekbone. Kayah is on his shoulder, and hoots as Atsuko calls back to him. “Hey there!”

“Hi Bokuto-senpai!” Shouyou beams, handing him the bag. “Who's your friend?”

“This is Konoha Akinori!” 

Konoha waves lazily. “I keep him in line, most of the time,” he says by way of introduction. “I'm here to make sure we actually leave on time.”

“How much do I owe you?” Bokuto asks him, fishing one of the books out and flipping through it. Konoha catches the title and his eyebrows raise a little, but he looks pleased, his smile a little fond. 

Shouyou shakes his head. “Nothing! You helped me so much last night, and Atsuko makes me so happy.”

“You're sure?”

“I'm sure!” He beams as Atsuko flies up to look at the mud swallows up close. “Did everything go okay today?”

“It did!” Bokuto ruffles his hair and Shouyou basks in how nice it feels. “We have to get going, there's a lot going on, but thank you again for this. And for yesterday. It meant a lot to me.”

Shouyou beams up at him, and Bokuto pulls him into a crushingly tight hug. Shouyou hugs back, heart swelling.

“See you around,” Konoha drawls as they split to go their separate ways. He looks like he's just heard an amusing joke, but Shouyou just waves at him and leaves the park. It's a nice, warm day, and the sky is clear and bright. The city bustles with life, people going this way and that. Shouyou window shops as he goes, looking at all of the interesting things the windows display. There's a whole _shop_ selling handblown glass figurines, restaurants, other book stores, comics shops, a place that sells hot tubs-

and he is lost.

He looks around, uncertain. This road no longer looks familiar. He turns to the right, spotting a sign that looks like it might be something, but it's just an advertisement for a ramen shop. He keeps going, off of the main road, until he's at the edge of a different park in a residential type area. Atsuko flies up into a tree to examine something, curious.

Hinata Shouyou is definitely lost. He's about to turn around when some small finches fly up to him, landing on his outstretched arms when he realizes they want to talk.

“ _Cat!_ ” one of them shrieks. “ _Cat! On the other side! Make it go away!!!_ ”

“Okay, I will,” he says, and the finches flee immediately. He likes finches. They're straightforward. When they want something, they don't hesitate to demand it.

He walks around the edge of the park, Atsuko hopping from tree to tree above him, and stops when he sees something interesting.

A chimera sits on the edge of the park, making a seat out of the end of the concrete and the chain fence. He has longer hair, half-black and half-blond, and there are cat ears speckled with orange, black, and white on top of his head. There's a tail as well, long and prehensile, that's flicking back and forth as he plays on what looks like a very nice smart phone. Ah! So this is the finches mysterious cat. Somehow he's not surprised. They aren't the brightest birds out there. 

“Hi!”

The man jerks as Shouyou jogs up, making a faint noise of surprise. He's very pretty, with a soft face and big golden eyes, and doesn't look that much older than Shouyou is. 

“Hi?”

“What'cha doing?” Hinata asks cheerfully, stopping next to him. The tail curls in around his leg, as if uncertain.

“...ah, well...Got lost,” he admits, looking away. 

“Eh? Did you come from a different part of the city?”

The chimera nods, biting his lip. He's dressed pretty normal, in soft jeans and and oversized sweater with big comfortable boots on, and he has on a choker with a little ring on it that's actually really cute. He looks back down at his phone, ears twitching forward a little. Shouyou's entranced. He's met cat chimeras a couple times, but they've always been aloof and dressed in elegant clothes, the kind of people who looked down on grubby little boys who liked birds. This chimera looks nothing like the ones from Yukigaoka.

“Is that fun?” he asks, curious, and crouches down by the chimera. He looks over out of the corner of his eye.

“...Not really,” he says, angling the phone to let Shouyou see a little better. It's a matching game, it looks like, with cats waiting to be fed with matches. It looks very cute, but it's in English. “Just a time waster.”

He has a bag next to him, and when Shouyou looks over to it he gasps.

“The Compendium!” He says, excited. The chimera jerks, startled. “For fire magic! Are you a fire mage?”

“...Not really,” the chimera says, looking up through his hair. “I'm not good at it.”

“I'm a Flight witch but I can do fire magic too! I'm Hinata Shouyou!”

The chimera looks up at him, his big eyes a little less nervous, a little less scared. Atsuko hops back and forth, from his shoulders to his head and back again. 

“...Kozume.”

“Kozume?” Shouyou smiles at him, wide and easy. “Is that your name?”

“....Kozume Kenma,” Kenma says, fiddling with his phone a bit, but he looks much less nervous now.

“So it's Kenma! That's a really satisfying name. It's nice.” He leans against the chain links, smiling. Kenma seems like he's feeling a little better, and doesn't look quite so stiff now. “Hey, are you just starting out? I'm 18, I'm starting my real training this next week.”

Kenma shakes his head. “I'm 20,” he says, “I finished training a year ago.”

“Oh,” Shouyou cringes, horrified. “I'm sorry, I should have put on honorifics! I didn't realize you were older than me!”

Kenma tips his head to one side, making a bit of a face. His expression doesn't shift much, just tiny muscle changes, and Shouyou thinks that it's kind of amazing he can do so much with so little of his face. “It's fine... Stuff like that... hierarchy stuff, I don't like it.”

“Oh...” Shouyou feels a little relieved, and sits down next to him on the concrete block. “So, are you studying fire magic? Do you like it?”

Kenma shrugs one shoulder, a tiny movement. “Not really... I don't dislike fire magic, but I don't like getting worn out. It takes a lot of work to do it right.” He shifts a little where he sits. “I'm doing it because my friends in my coven need my help with something, so I'm working on it. They'd have a hard time without me.”

Shouyou makes a soft noise of understanding. “What kind of magic do you have the gift for?”

Kenma glances up at him, shrugging a little. “Channeling, like most chimeras. And some other things.”

“I'm a Flight witch, like I said. I want to be a mage some day.” Shouyou smiles, but it's self deprecating. “People say that Flight mages aren't really needed. Everyone keeps saying that it's silly to even try. Sometimes I think they're right.”

“Not really,” Kenma says, looking back down at his phone. “The other covens say stuff like that about me all the time. That... that chimeras are supposed to just be used, not useful. They always ignore me because I'm so small and not very strong physically. I don't think it matters. Other covens judge that I'm always there in meetings and things.”

“That's rude of them,” Shouyou says, leaning over to watch the game. “Hey, is your coven strong?”

“We used to be really strong,” Kenma says, moving the character on his phone. “At least, that's what people say. And then we weren't strong at all for a while because of the people in charge.” He smiles, and looks over his shoulder.

Kenma's eyes gleam golden as he says, “I think we're strong again now, but we're getting even stronger.”

The wind picks up, rustling through the trees of the park. Chills run down Shouyou's spine at Kenma's smile, and the simple truth in those words. He doesn't have any doubt- if Kenma says his coven is strong, it definitely is. Something about that smile, with those sharp teeth on display, brings it all into perspective very fast.

He licks his lips. “What... what coven-”

“ _Kenma!_ ”

They both jerk, turning to look where the voice had come from. There's a tall man in the road, in black pants and a red shirt, messy black hair sticking up this way and that. Black stones gleam in his ears, expensive meteorites if the cold magic radiating from them is any indication.

“Ah, it's Kuro.” Kenma stands up, a little more relaxed. The tall man eyes Shouyou intently, and Shouyou can see a glimpse of an array tattoo from under his sleeves. He's intimidating, with his messy black hair and lean muscles, but Kenma doesn't seem at all afraid. Kenma hefts his bag up, and smiles.

“I'll see you soon, Shouyou,” he says, the wind making his hair dance a little. 

Shouyou waves, and watches the two walk away.

“Don't just wander off,” Kuro says, glancing back at Shouyou before fixing soft eyes on Kenma.

“Sorry,” Kenma says, smiling his little smile, and they round the corner of the park.

Shouyou looks at the corner where he watched them turn, and frowns. “Soon?”

Atsuko nips at his ear, making him jump. 

“Oh, no, Kageyama and the groceries!”

He finds a route to the store after consulting his map, and notices that the park is right on the edge of territory between Karasuno, Shinzen, and Nekoma. He shrugs it off, closing up the map, and puts it out of his mind as he runs to the grocery store. The rest of the day passes quickly. He fights with Kageyama, has dinner with his coven, gets roped into a Mario Cart game that turns into 20 with Yamaguchi.

By the time he's falling into bed, he's much too tired to be curious about anything but what the inside of his eyelids looks like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE WE GOOOOOO. 
> 
> Comments give me life. I'm still fresh and new to this fandom! 
> 
> Dictionary for this fic:  
>  **Array(s)** : Circles with magical symbols inside them. They can act as triggers or keys for magical defense or attack, or for creation or summoning.  
>  **Bind rune** : A Bind rune is a name specific rune, tying a users magic to themselves so it can't be siphoned. Some chimeras use them.  
>  **Binding runes** : Typically only used by Red Path covens, they're a type of command rune that makes it so the bound person is under limitations, IE unable to attack anyone.  
>  **Chimera** : Inhuman being, specifically one mixed with an animal. Created through magic, extremely powerful, often kept essentially as pets by powerful mages. The most common types are dogs, birds, and cats or the equivalent youkai (Fukunaga, for example, is a maneki-neko chimera).  
>  **Command runes** : Runes that force the person wearing it to comply with whatever orders the creator of the rune wishes.  
>  **Coven** : Group of magical users sworn under one banner. Many different kinds of covens exist.  
>  **Hedgewitch** : Technically a mage, they oversee the balance between worlds, and “correct” any wrongs that might be done. They often clash with sealgair's.  
>  **Laws** : The magical laws governing what can and can't be done to people, built into cities/countries. Powerful and extremely difficult to change.  
>  **Mage** : Powerful magic users who can draw on the life force of other things for magical stamina.  
>  **Runes** : Magical symbols with spells tied into their design.  
>  **School** : “Classes” of magic, of where there are an incredible amount. Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Spirit, Flight, Dog, Cat, Wild, Horse, etc.  
>  **Sealgair** : People within covens who work as hunters of magical items, or do damage control after magical incidents. Often hired out by other covens, they travel often and far.  
>  **Ways** : Lower than a law, it's essentially a cultural expectation.  
>  **Witch** : Magic users without the ability to access magical stamina from other sources. Witches can become mages over time and with intense training.  
>  **Yakuven** : Slang for a “yakuza coven” or a coven that primarily does its business in a questionably legal fashion. Nohebi, Itachiyama, Fukurodani, and Nekoma are notorious for this. Other names for a Yakuven are: Blade coven, black coven, coven-gumi, coven-kai, or the Red Path covens (the implication being red with blood).


	3. always roaming with a hungry heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for this chapter: Violence, broken bones, discussion of branding.

Kuroo Tetsurou likes to think he's a patient man.

Most people in his position aren't, after all. Organized crime is a great deal of work for either tremendous or tiny pay off, and he's spent the better part of his life buried to the neck in the worst hives of villainy that the country has to offer. Being raised to be a power house under an enforcer isn't exactly the sort of life he wants for anyone, but he's done his best to be mild mannered and careful despite it. 

And, of course, there's Kenma.

Dawn is just starting to break on the horizon when he rolls over in bed. Kenma is still beside him, asleep in a little ball with his soft tail draped over Kuroo's legs. His ears twitch in his sleep, and Tetsurou smiles as he gently smooths back the hair that's fallen into his face. Pretty, lovely, deadly Kenma. They'd been raised together, more or less, coming up under Nekomata-sama's rule and quietly taking power where they could until now. Now, when Kuroo is the face of Nekoma, Kenma rules behind the scenes while Nekomata thinks he's so clever for “rewarding” Tetsurou with unlimited rights to his best friend. He knows that Nekomata thinks that Kenma is essentially just a pet, but Kenma's better than them all. 

Amid all the arrays on his arms, Tetsurou has only ever destroyed one, and that is the Command rune tied to Kenma's. It's a subtle, tiny thing, just noticeable if you look close, but a thin scar bisects the rune enough to break it permanently. No one, _no one_ commands Kenma.

He rises with a stretch, and fishes clothes for the day out of the closet. This particular apartment is their fourth-favorite, situated on the very edge of Nekoma's territory and closest to Ubugawa's. It's in a building they don't own, with people who haven't the faintest clue about magic, and they're near perfect tenants. It's mid sized, on the second floor, and has a spectacular bathroom. Tetsurou dresses for the day in his usual black tank top and jeans, and heads to the kitchen to cook something. 

He's halfway through omurice when Kenma emerges from the bedroom, on soft feet, dressed in nothing but one of Tetsurou's button down red shirts. Red's always been good to him, but brilliant red turns him into an absolute vision.

“Morning, beautiful,” Tetsurou purrs, looking him over and not trying to hide his interest. “Is this an invitation?”

“Mmm, no.” Kenma goes to him, cuddling up against his back. Their bond practically _sings_ from how close they are, and Tetsurou feels a little like melting. When their soulbond had first formed he'd hated it, but now he relishes its presence in their lives. “I'm still sore from yesterday.”

“Sorry.”

“No, you're not.”

“You're right, I'm not.” Tetsurou smiles at the omurice, very pleased with himself. “You like it and you never let me top, can you blame me?”

Kenma swats his ass with his tail before yawning wide to show off sharp teeth. “We're still meeting with Koutarou, Masaki and Ogano today, right?”

“Yep. We're still on. One in the afternoon at that cafe you like.”

“Good.” Kenma stands on tip-toes to kiss his shoulder, avoiding the ugly black Binding rune on the back of his neck. He tries to avoid touching it. “I want to go pick up a new game today. There's a couple new ones that were released last week and we didn't have time while we were dealing with Fukurodani.”

Tetsurou plates the omurice and takes the plates to the breakfast nook. Kenma follows, sitting crosslegged on the chair, and props his arms on the table. 

“Koutarou seemed upset,” Kenma murmurs thoughtfully, looking out the window at the city. They have a decent view, away from the center. “What do you think? Should we have brought him in before killing Watani?”

“Watani was a piece of shit and supported the last _oyabun_ , the one that got rid of Akaashi. I think we were doing him a favor. A nice little surprise, even if it did mean he had a bit of a rough night.” Tetsurou begins his breakfast, sighing happily. He's fond of omurice, it's a comfort food that he's made for Kenma since they were tiny. “He won, by the way. He texted me a little bit ago. He's all that, now.”

“Everything's coming along very nicely,” Kenma muses as he picks up his chopsticks. “I wish we could move a little faster, but oh well. We'll keep moving until it's done.”

Tetsurou lifts his hand to kiss the back of it, and Kenma gives him a tiny, pleased smile.

“If I asked for the world, you'd bring it to me,” Kenma says softly, and Tetsurou kisses his hand once more.

“Anything for you, my love.”

Kenma is smiling to himself when he returns to his food, and Tetsurou takes a moment to be very pleased.

“I have a bit of work to do today,” he says, when they've finished breakfast and the plates are in the dishwasher. “Nearby, at least. It's nothing much, just a couple broken fingers. Do you want to come with and we can go get your games?”

“Sure.” Kenma leans up and Tetsurou indulges him in a slow, lazy kiss that's all heat. The tiny barbs on Kenma's tongue are such a pleasant sensation, and he shudders as Kenma's hands tighten on his shirt and his sharp nails dig in through the fabric. 

“Sure you don't want a quick go?” Tetsurou breathes against his lips.

“I could be convinced,” Kenma purrs back at him, golden eyes sparking, and Tetsurou groans with want.

oOo

Kuroo Tetsurou likes to think he's a patient man.

But there's just something about being prattled at by someone who's trying to get out of a punishment that's well deserved that pisses him off faster than anything else in the world. 

Kenma is glamoured so that none of the normal humans notice anything about his soft ears past the fact that they look very realistic, headband in his hair, and is playing on his PSP while Tetsurou loses his patience and breaks two fingers on each hand. The man screams and wails, and Kenma flicks his finger to cast a quick silencing spell on two others begging for forgiveness. Tetsurou takes a great deal of pleasure in this. 

“Thanks, they were starting to annoy me.”

“There was a cutscene,” Kenma says, disinterested. “Can we go now?”

“Almost.” Tetsurou breaks one finger on each other other two, impressed by how well the silence spell is holding against their obvious screams. “Right, well, like we've gone over with that idiot, you owe Nekomata-sama money. Since you've decided that not arranging for payments is preferable, just know that you still owe the money and your protection costs will go up for the next two months. So, anything else?”

The three look at him in horror, and their mouths all shut when they realize that begging won't do any good. 

“I like this spell,” Tetsurou says, slinging an arm over Kenma's shoulders as they leave the shop. He's still in Tetsurou's shirt with a comfortable sweater thrown over it, sleeves rolled up a little, and has added black jeans, comfortable boots, and a very cute collar that most people would see as a choker to finish off the look. The O ring hanging from the slim piece of leather jingles ever so slightly as they walk. “You should teach it to me.”

“Mmm.”

“Which one did you tweak for it to be able to do multiple people at once?”

“Combination of silencing and crowd control,” Kenma says absently, not looking up from his screen. “Ogano texted. He wants to know if you're good with him trying to flirt with Masaki.”

“Holy shit, that's hilarious. Why wouldn't I be?”

“I have no idea.”

“It's been three years. You'd think he'd have figured out how to get into Masaki's pants by now, damn.” Tetsurou drops a kiss onto one of Kenma's secondary ears, which flicks in annoyance. “God, that's still so cute when you flick your ears like that.”

“I will kick you.”

“And I'd thank you for it.”

“You disgust me.”

“Ah, so you've discussed me!”

Kenma barely hides his snort of laughter as they walk down the street. Tetsurou loves him so much, and he absently plays with the ring on the collar as they walk to their destination. Kenma takes the lead in every aspect of his life, but he likes the look of chokers and collars almost as much as he likes riling Tetsurou up by wearing them. It's a sort of easy camouflage too. No one looks at tall, lanky Tetsurou with his wicked smile and talent for breaking bones and thinks “oh, surely it's the tiny chimera wearing a collar that's in charge”, which is to their mistake. Kenma is infinitely more dangerous than Tetsurou could ever hope to be.

Frankly, it's fucking hot.

They reach the little cafe that Masaki suggested, and find Ogano already there and flirting, badly. Masaki looks like he's trying very hard not to laugh, but his eyes are bright and happy.

“God, they're cute,” Tetsurou mutters, and Kenma hides a smile. “Seriously, look at them. Masaki knows exactly what's going on, he just likes to be flirted with and watching Ogano suffer. It's so cute I'm going to _die_. What if they get married? Oh, man, the paperwork for that sort of alliance would be such a fucking nightmare, I half want it to happen just so we can steal shit out from under them while they're making moon eyes at each other over the desk.”

“Masaki's too smart to let you get away with it,” Kenma says.

“Yeah, but he'd think it was funny and wouldn't try and kill me for it, so really it's a win-win situation.”

Kenma rolls his eyes, and together they walk up to their table. Masaki waves at them, and Ogano only looks a little disappointed that his flirting has been cut short. 

“No sign of Bo yet?” Tetsurou asks, dropping into a chair. Kenma sits next to him and immediately pulls out his PSP again. Ogano passes over a bag to Kenma, one with a couple different books in it they'd asked to borrow. 

“Not yet,” Ogano says, leaning back in his chair. “They haven't made the official announcement yet either but the only real contenders were either him or Konoha, and Konoha would rather die before sitting at the Head of Fukurodani. He's all background.”

“He's good at it,” Kuroo says, smiling wryly. “Pretty sure Ujimatsu made an attempt to take out Bo.”

“That was stupid of him,” Masaki says, snorting. “Ujimatsu's, what, a Canus mage? Bokuto-san's got Flight, Fire, and a bit of Air. Ujimatsu couldn't touch him even if he wanted to. I think the only person stronger in the entire fucking city when it comes to offense is maybe Sakusa and even then that's a bit of a stretch.”

“Yeah.” Tetsurou stretches lazily. “How's your newbies?”

“Good,” Ogano says, lighting up. “We got a ton this year, mostly basic elemental witches, but we've got some specialized ones that look like they're going to be mages. We even got a Felis witch and a pair of twin Lightning witches, which, not that useful a School to go into since it's weather specific but it's still badass.”

“About the same for me,” Masaki nods. “We got the usual amount of Air specialists, and a couple weather witches. And go figure, we got a couple of Canus witches. One super skittish Blood and Earth witch, too. She's a tiny little thing.”

“A Blood witch?” Tetsurou's eyebrows raise. “That's not exactly a common gift.”

“Her mom's one of the coven heads up in Iwate, she's properly pedigree,” Masaki says dryly. “Apparently they had a nasty fight and she decided she was done so she came here. Dunno why she picked us over Shinzen, they've got a couple decent Blood mages. She's sweet.”

“What's her name?” Tetsurou asks, curious.

“Ah, shit, what is it... It's really cute. Yachi something. Hira? No, Hitoka, that's it. Yachi Hitoka.”

“Very cute,” Tetsurou agrees. “Hey, don't Karasuno have a Blood mage too?”

Ogano shakes his head. “Nah, she's an ultra powerful water mage. What's her name, Macchan?”

“Don't call me that. Shimizu Kiyoko.”

“Shimizu, that's right,” Tetsurou muses. “The beautiful one. I haven't seen her around lately.”

“You wouldn't. She's with that terrifying God's-Touched pair out on some mission or other. I ran into Sawamura at the store and we got to chatting,” Ogano says. “They're clear the fuck at the bottom of the country doing something, I think Sawamura said they were in Okinawa. Something about some kind of sea monster? I dunno.”

The familiar thunder of footsteps has Tetsurou pulling out the last chair, and Bokuto drops into it with a wide smile. “Who's in Okinawa?”

“Shit, man,” Masaki says, staring at him. “You look awful.”

He's not wrong. Bokuto's got a black eye, a split lip, a cut on one cheek, bruises on his throat that look like strangulation marks. His hands are damaged, the knuckles bruised or cut from punching hard, and he's favoring his left side. But he's still smiling, and his eyes are gleaming with a sort of self-satisfied pride. Kenma looks up and grimaces.

“I slipped Konoha for this,” Bokuto says brightly. “Are we having real lunch or just fake lunch?”

“Real lunch,” Tetsurou says, reaching out to gently cup his cheek. “Fucking hell, sweetheart, you look bad. Are you okay?” He grimaces a little at the pet name that slipped out, but no one comments on it.

Bokuto shrugs his left shoulder, smiling. “Taking the title of Head was a little rougher than planned,” he admits. “Ujimatsu and Kuko ganged up on me, but I overpowered them. But it's official! I'm Head of Fukurodani now. I think Konoha wants to make the official announcement tonight, he's handling most of the complicated parts. Right on time so I can go to the banquet and be impressive without Watani there. It'll be nice!”

“Akaashi will be really proud of you,” Ogano says, with great sympathy. Bokuto's smile wavers a little, but he nods.

“Yeah, I think so. I can't wait to see him.”

Masaki reached over and touches his hand. “Mind if I...”

Bokuto waves him on, and Masaki begins healing him. He's a good healer, strong and well trained. The cut on Bokuto's cheek heals first, followed by his lip without even any scarring, the strangulation marks fading to nothing. The swelling from the black eye fades and then disappears entirely, but Bokuto hisses in pain and pulls away from Masaki's hand. Masaki grabs him again, tighter, and Bokuto buckles over and gasps. Tetsurou winces in sympathy when he hears the familiar sound of bones popping into place. Kenma jerks and Tetsurou sends a wash of reassurance down their bond. Kenma just sends back slight panic and anxiety.

“Busted ribs,” Masaki mutters as Bokuto wheezes out a string of curses. “Those are always hell to heal.” He lets go and Bokuto straightens up, massaging his side. “I'll leave your hands and the bruise on your cheekbone because any more might drain both of us too much and Kuroo'll kill me if I faint on you now.”

Bokuto nods. “I'm good!”

Kenma's anxiety eases a little.

“Alright, to business,” Tetsurou says. “Are we getting appetizers to share or not, because last time Ogano ate all of the yakiniku before I could even try it.”

Once food is ordered and on the table, Bokuto attacking it with gusto, Masaki swallows down a cup of tea to brace himself. “Alright, let's just say it. We're one step closer to breaking the Laws, but we've still got to get the remaining Key arrays from Oikawa, Sawamura, Daishou, Nekomata, and last but very much not least Sakusa before we can do sweet fuck all about anything. How the fuck are we going to manage that?”

“Patience,” Kenma says, not looking up from his food. “Bokuto being Head of Fukurodani puts us in a better position to negotiate with others.”

“You think Nohebi will negotiate with you?” Ogano asks skeptically. 

“No,” Kenma says, poking at his rice. “But a new Head of a coven means that everything will change. They don't know if Bokuto will try and expand Fukurodani's territory. He's an unknown. We'll use that.”

“For who?”

“Aoba Johsai and Karasuno,” Tetsurou says. Bokuto's eyes flick to him for a second before looking back at the food. “If we get those two on our side first, we're golden. Aoba Johsai's not unfriendly with either of the others. Karasuno would sooner die than be friendly with Nohebi. For now don't worry about it. Just be ready to keep an eye on how things shake out at the banquet.”

“Fair enough. What about Nekomata's Key array?” Ogano asks. 

Kenma picks up his drink, sipping at the water. “Let us handle that. It will take a great deal of time, and the less you know about it the better.”

Ogano shivers. “You two are scary.”

Tetsurou smirks, and gives him a mocking toast.

They finish lunch, and Bokuto kisses Kenma's forehead and Kuroo's cheek before vanishing into a side street to meet back up with Konoha. Kenma and Tetsurou walk to the main road with Masaki, who's going another direction. It's a busy sort of day, people bustling about doing their work. Tetsurou gives him a quick hug as they prepare to part ways. 

“Don't be a stranger,” Masaki says. “I could use your teaching skills some time soon. You're good at it, especially with the skittish ones.”

“I'll see what I can do,” Tetsurou promises. “Nekomata keeps me on a long leash, I can probably get some time to go and help your little babies.”

“They're a good group,” Masaki says, smiling broad. He loves teaching, Tetsurou knows, and he's an excellent Head. “I'll look forward to it.”

“Definitely. And hey. You ever going to let Ogano know that you like him back?” Tetsurou teases, and laughs when Masaki goes red and rubs at the back of his neck. “Oh my god, are you _embarrassed_ about it?”

“He's just so fun!” Masaki complains. “And cute! I like his hair.”

“Oh my god, Masaki.”

Masaki waves goodbye, and Tetsurou laughs as he leaves. His phone buzzes, and he checks it to find a message from Yaku asking a somewhat routine question about funding for a specific design firm they had under their control. Tetsurou texts him back quickly, and puts his phone back.

Tetsurou looks up, and immediately notices a distinct lack of Kenma.

“Goddammit.”

oOo

Kenma doesn't realize until he's a good few blocks away that Kuroo is not, in fact, next to him. He looks around, blinking. He's been swept away by the crowds before, it's not too unusual, but now he's on his own. He feels down their bond, testing the distance, and feels only frustrated amusement in return when Kuroo returns the feeling to him.

There's a beep from his phone, and he pulls it out to look. 

Text from: XXX-XXX-XXXX  
y do u do this

He wrinkles his nose at Tetsurou's texting. The number is Tetsurou's personal number, the one he has memorized and no one else but Yaku and Kai know. Saving it is beyond foolish- they memorize all the numbers, for safety.

Text to: XXX-XXX-XXXX  
I'll find a place to sit and wait for you. 

They have this down to an art, at this point. Kenma's sense of direction is shit, arguably worse than most normal humans, and their bond is strong but not strong enough to lead them to each other without playing the world's longest game of “Hot and Cold”. Most cat chimeras have an innate sense of it, but not him. He got the sharp teeth and barbed tongue, and exactly no sense of direction. Tetsurou's been dealing with him getting lost since they were tiny, but he'd think that at his age he'd be better about it. Apparently not. 

Kenma looks around. He's in a residential district, lots of houses clustered around narrow streets. There's a park about a block down, and he hefts his bag before walking over to it to check the name on it. It's a nice little park, with a play area and plenty of adult trees. Above him, some birds chatter their little bird noises, and his secondary ears flick up in curiosity. He tastes hunger at the back of his throat as he watches the little yellow finches fly in the branches, and a faint crackling chitter rumbles out of his throat before he can tamp it down. He sits on the end of the little wall and fence, and pulls out his phone.

Text to: XXX-XXX-XXXX  
Kawanishi Park. Not sure which side I'm on.

He sets his bag down and opens up the Simon's Cat game. It's a simple game, with just enough challenge to keep him from wanting to launch himself into the sun in boredom, so he starts matching things up to feed the little cat avatars. It's a nice day, at least. The sun is warm and soothing on his skin, and if not for the fact that there was a squirming, ugly panic attack trying to well up inside him he'd be happily lounging in the sun on the grass of the park. The finches scream at each other and his ears flick despite his best efforts, listening to their little voices. They fly off and he returns his attention to the game. 

A minute or two passes with exactly no issue, and then he hears the clatter of footsteps behind him. Whoever's walking up is light but doesn't seem to be planning any sort of ambush. He angles his phone to try and get a glimpse of them to check, a spell for freezing on his fingertips when-

“Hi!”

Kenma can't quite help jerking in surprise, turning. A boy not much younger than him, maybe 18 at the most, comes jogging up with a big smile on his face. 

“Hi?” he says weakly.

“Whatcha doin'?” The boy asks, beaming at him. Kenma's tail curls around his leg, and the boy watches it with interest. Ah. Witch, perhaps? He doesn't feel very powerful. 

“...ah, well...Got lost,” Kenma says, tripping over his words. He looks away, embarrassed. He could turn this kid into so much sentient soup, but it's still terrifying to talk to new people.

“Eh? Did you come from a different part of the city?” The boy asks. He sounds genuinely concerned.

Kenma nods, biting his lip. Where is Kuroo? He wants to go home, where there aren't strange people and he doesn't have to make any conversation if he doesn't want to. He spent most of his young life indoors under the command of Nekomata's house servants and with the Kuroo family. Socializing is not his forte. 

“Is that fun?” the boy asks, crouching down next to Kenma to look at the phone. He's small and vibrant, with brilliant red-orange hair that looks natural. Perhaps some Irish heritage, far back? He looks completely Japanese otherwise. Kenma looks at him out of the corner of his eye.

“...Not really.” He angles the phone so the boy can see the phone easier, letting him watch as he makes matches to feed the cats. The boy coos, watching with interest, and glances over. Kenma is suddenly, horribly reminded that he's accidentally left his bag open.

“The Compendium!” The boy is loud enough to make him jolt in surprise. “For fire magic! Are you a fire mage?”

Kenma licks his lips and looks up through his hair. The boy's jumped up, and his big eyes are wide with innocent curiosity. “...Not really. I'm not good at it.”

“I'm a Flight witch, but I can do fire magic too! I'm Hinata Shouyou!” Hinata announces proudly, and smiles wide at him. 

Kenma relaxes a little, and files the name away in the back of his mind. Hinata Shouyou... A nice name. And he clearly has no idea who Kenma is if he's giving his name out so easily. He seems nice, and not at all scared. Kenma's met a couple Flight mages and witches before, Koutarou notable among them. They're almost completely incapable of keeping a low profile. Between Koutarou's sky high silver and black and Hinata's brilliant orange, it seems that all Flight gifted must come with brilliant plumage. 

“...Kozume,” he says, and is pretty proud that his voice doesn't squeak. 

“Kozume?” Hinata repeats, smiling. He has a very nice smile. “Is that your name?”

“...Kozume Kenma,” Kenma says, and makes another chain of matches. He feels easier just saying it. Hinata is nice, not trying to be anything he's not. 

“So it's Kenma! That's a really satisfying name. It's nice.” Hinata leans against the chain link fence behind them, his smile still there. “Hey, are you just starting out? I'm 18, I'm starting my real training this week.”

18 years old. So he was right. This kid is a baby witch, at best, but he's not one of Nekoma's and the others would have said something to Koutarou at lunch if they'd picked up a Flight witch, and Koutarou would have been over the moon if he was picked up by Fukurodani. That leaves Nohebi, Itachiyama, Aoba Johsai, and Karasuno. He doesn't look tough enough for Nohebi or Itachiyama, and he's in short sleeves. No Binding runes on his neck or arms, or any Command runes. Aoba Johsai or Karasuno it is, then. Interesting. 

Kenma shakes his head, storing the information away. “I'm 20, I finished training a year ago.” An easier explanation than saying he's been finished since he was 13 officially, but been devouring all the information that Kuroo could smuggle him since. He's content at his skill and power level now, so for all intents and purposes he's finished. 

“Oh.” Hinata grimaces. “I'm sorry, I should have put on honorifics! I didn't realize you were older than me!”

That won't do. Kenma tips his head to the side, feeling the collar on his neck pull a little, and does his best to hide his grimace. “It's fine... Stuff like that...” his words tangle up and he takes a second to compose himself. “Hierarchy stuff, I don't like it.”

Things like tacking -dono onto Kuroo's name, for one thing. Things like being forced to bow to the older and less powerful while he's rising through the ranks at Kuroo's side when Kuroo doesn't have to so much as nod at them. Things like kneeling to kiss Nekomata's hand and referring to him with -sama when all he wants to do is rip his claws into him and destroy him. 

Kenma loathes hierarchy. 

“Oh!” Hinata looks relieved that he hasn't offended, and sits down next to him on the concrete of the fence. “So, are you studying fire magic? Do you like it?”

Kenma shrugs. “Not really. I don't dislike fire magic, but I don't like getting worn out. It takes a lot of work to do it right.” _Hours and hours at Nekomata's former Head of Operations beck and call, drained of all his power until he's weak as a baby and has to be carried back to their room by Kuroo. Days of recovery, helpless gasping for air as he wonders if the magic is gone for good this time, if the aching hole in his chest is going to ever heal._ He hides a shudder of horror. Exhaustion is the worst. “I'm doing it because my friends in my coven need my help with something, so I'm working on it. They'd have a hard time without me.”

_Kuroo, head bent, the brand white hot and painted with black ink for the Binding rune being pressed to the back of his neck. Screams muffled by a knife handle in his mouth, his arms bound behind him where he kneels._

“What kind of magic do you have the gift for?” Hinata asks, as Kenma blinks back to the present, the smell of burnt flesh in his nose. 

He glances off, shrugs again. “Channeling, like most chimeras. And some other things.”

“I'm a Flight witch, like I said. I want to be a mage some day.” Hinata smiles, but it looks forced. “People say that Flight mages aren't really needed. Everyone keeps saying that it's silly to even try. Sometimes I think they're right.”

“Not really,” Kenma says, looking back down at the little cats on his phone. He hates the thought of cheerful Hinata being talked down. “The other covens say stuff like that about me all the time. That... that chimeras are supposed to just be used, not useful. They always ignore me because I'm so small and not very strong physically. I don't think it matters. Other covens judge that I'm always there in meetings and things.”

And while they wonder why Kuroo's brought his pet, Kenma pulls the strings in the background.

“That's rude of them,” Hinata says. He leans over to watch the game again. Kenma wins the level with 3 stars, as is right, and Hinata makes a happy little noise as he goes to a different game, one with a little cat running through a maze. “Hey, is your coven strong?”

What a question. “We used to be really strong. At least, that's what people say.” _The old coven members, before Kenma arranged to have them removed. The ones who abused Command runes and Binding runes, the ones who were cruel and brutal and killed for fun._ “And then we weren't strong at all for a while because of the people in charge.” _The Head of Operations just before Kuroo was a fool and easily disposed of. He'd taken a lot of pleasure in seeing the asshole burn_. Kenma smiles, pleased.

Everything's in place now. Koutarou sits on Fukurodani's throne, Shinzen and Ubugawa await their call. Kuroo sits as Nekomata's loyal right hand, bound and leashed, whispering secrets that Kenma will exploit at the right time. Everything is coming together nicely.

He looks over his shoulder, and smiles at Hinata, showing his teeth. “I think we're strong again now, but we're getting even stronger.”

Hinata's eyes widen in fascinated awe. The wind comes down through the park, tugging at Kenmas clothes and ruffling Hinata's vibrant hair. He looks at Kenma so intent, so full of a quiet hunger. Those eyes see more than they should, but Kenma feels no fear towards or from him. Here, it seems, he's been met at his own level. 

Hinata licks his lips. “What... what coven-”

“Kenma!”

Kenma turns, and there's Kuroo. He doesn't look too happy, his eyes dark as he looks at Hinata. He looks even taller than normal with how the sun frames around him, but Kenma feels a wash of relief.

“Ah, it's Kuro.” He stands up, feeling some of the tension in his shoulders ease. Kuroo's watching Hinata with narrowed eyes, and Kenma can feel a whisper of his magic pass to feel Hinata out. He doesn't try to stop Kuroo, simply gathers his things. He feels better just having talked to Hinata, and he picks his bag up with a smile. He takes one more look at Hinata and realizes that he's a wearing a Karasuno polo. Panic makes him blind to the simplest things. He'll be at the banquet, then, and easy to find.

“I'll see you soon, Shouyou,” he says, making the decision. He likes him. Shouyou is officially an acquaintance, and a good one.

Shouyou waves as he walks over to Kuroo, who gives him one last look before his expression softens as he turns to Kenma.

“Don't just wander off,” Kuroo says.

Kenma smiles, small and reassuring, and Kuroo settles as he lightly touches his arm. “Sorry.”

Kuroo leads him away from the park, taking the far corner and slipping his arm around Kenma. “You okay? Sorry it took me so long.”

“I'm fine.” Kenma slips his phone into his pocket, leaning into Kuroo's side. He's had about enough of the great outdoors for one day, all the same. “What do you think about Karasuno? About bringing them under our banner properly, I mean. Like Shinzen and Ubugawa.”

Kuroo raises an eyebrow. “Karasuno? They're barely even fish in our pond. You've never mentioned anything about bringing them in before.”

“They still have a Coven Head,” Kenma says, tipping his head to the side. Kuroo takes the hint, because their bond sings with the relief of being close again, and slips his fingers under Kenma's collar to stroke the skin there. It's reassuring. “A Coven Head who hates Nohebi more than you do, even. Which I didn't think was possible.” 

“Daishou Suguru is infinitely hateable,” Kuroo mutters under his breath, his eye twitching. “Sawamura's just got an even bigger reason to hold a grudge. He'll help us even if he isn't under our banner. But I don't think he'd be willing to join up under us for protection. Fukurodani, maybe, with Bokuto running the show. They get along for the most part, but he and I have that whole eye-fucking-even-if-we-hate-each-other thing happening. I think he'd rather die than let me top, metaphorically or physically.”

“Ugh.” Kenma can't help the face he makes, and Kuroo laughs. 

“Aw, sweetheart, you know I'm just for you and Bo,” Kuroo croons, and Kenma elbows him neatly in the stomach. 

“You're such a pain,” he mutters. “Next time, I'm tying you up and making you watch. No playing with Koutarou for you.”

“Aw, no, Kenma!”

Kenma, feeling very mature, sticks his tongue out at Kuroo. 

Kuroo laughs, squeezing him a little in a side hug. “Okay. So why Karasuno and not Aoba Johsai?”

“Because Oikawa would cut off your balls and feed them to you if you suggested it?”

“Mmm, you do have a point there.”

Kenma lets Kuroo lead them across a street, feeling much more back to himself. The relief is making him talkative. “Oikawa is proud. Both in himself and in his coven. Aoba Johsai went from nothing to better than Shinzen and passing Ubugawa within the two years he's been Coven Head, and he'll let go of it when he dies. Implying he can't take care of his own is a certain way to lose his help.”

“Very true. He'll be our wild card,” Kuroo says thoughtfully as they take the overpass sidewalk. “Sawamura we can leverage against Nohebi. What do we even have that we can use against Oikawa, if he decides to make things difficult for us?”

“Nothing.”

Kuroo looks down at him, surprised.

Kenma shrugs. “He's clean. Monogamous even if he flirts, strong enough not to want for power, smart enough to know how to avoid blackmail, no skeletons of bad magical decisions in his closet. He left Miyagi to become more powerful and took Aoba Johsai the right way, no underhanded tricks. He also has the least interesting porn history I've ever seen. Iwaizumi either keeps him very satisfied, or he's just not interested in sex.”

“You hacked him?”

“Was that a question? I'm a technomancer,” Kenma says, shrugging one shoulder. “Even before a Channeler. It's what I do. Oikawa is untouchable.”

“What about Iwaizumi?”

“Do _you_ want to try and take down the third most powerful Earth mage in the city?” Kenma counters. “The one who Oikawa lives with, works with, and is essentially never without?”

“Yikes.”

“He's untouchable,” Kenma repeats. “We have to convince him. No blackmail or extortion.”

“Fair enough. It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't a challenge.” Kuroo's voice falls a little flat at the end.

Kenma remembers the stink of burnt flesh in his nose, the magic of the ink on the brand healing into the open wound to leave the ugly black Binding rune on the back of Kuroo's neck. 

“Right,” he says, and remembers what hatred tastes like. “Fun.”

oOo

Aoba Johsai's coven headquarters is an absolutely beautiful building in the classical Japanese style in the middle of their territory, and Kenma dreads seeing it every third year. Shinzen and Ubugawa host otherwise, but it was Ubugawa's turn last year, which means that their driver pulls up to Aoba Johsai's mansion in a wealthy residential district a few days after Kenma meets Shouyou. Kenma has to put on his politest mask to hide just how much he hates banquet time. Kuroo gets out first, Taketora coming from the seat beside the driver to hold open the door for him, and Kuroo helps Kenma out of the back of the car.

“This is ostentatious,” he mutters petulantly as the others climb out of the limo. Kai and Fukunaga are both away for the evening working on something for Nekomata, leaving Yaku and Taketora for bodyguard duty and Kenma _hates_ it. Inuoka, Teshiro, and Shibayama, their first years with their new Binding and Command runes on their upper right forearms, are looking around the big house with great interest. Taketora closes the door after Yaku climbs out, and goes to stand at Kenma's seven. His long tail whips back and forth, and Kenma catches sight of one round ear twitching back and forth as he listens to birds chattering in the trees. It's some what reassuring to have a tiger chimera there, though. 

“We always take limos, you know that,” Kuroo says, looking around the grounds. “Nekomata likes to show off.”

“Kuroo, next year we're taking taxis.”

“Of course, Kenma.” Kuroo kisses his temple. From the other end of their bond Kenma can feel a wild mix of emotions swirling through his partner, a sickening mix of excitement-worry-frustration-anger-hope. It's making him uncomfortable with just how _much_ it is. “Watch your step on the path.”

Kenma's secondary ears pin back and he actually growls. Kuroo wisely takes a step back. 

“I _loathe_ banquet,” he snarls, smoothing down his hakama. Nekomata likes them to make a statement with their looks, and they certainly are this year. Kuroo is, as always, in a silky black suit with a red shirt, lovely black tie, and a pocket square in coordinating red, with coordinating red winged eyeliner. Kenma's been wrangled into traditional hakama in rich red with a black hakamashita to top it, his feet squeezed into tight black boots with a high heel to throw him off balance, the Nekoma _kamon_ on the back of his top feeling almost as awful as the Binding rune peaking out over the back of Kuroo's suit. The shoes are a subtle insult, ultra feminine and forcing him to rely on someone if he doesn't want to turn an ankle. Nekomata wants to make his position as Kuroo's toy visibly clear. As far as anyone outside of Kenma's close friends are concerned, he's Kuroo's kept whore, and he hates it so much. His claws extend despite himself.

Yaku steps up next to him, offering his arm, and Kenma swallows his wounded pride to take it so he doesn't fall.

“It's just four hours,” Yaku says as they walk towards the main door. Witch lights in soft blue light the wide cobblestone path. “You can do it.”

“This cannot be over fast enough,” Kenma says, taking a deep breath. Trapped walking in shoes he can barely manage, in clothes he finds uncomfortable, with eyes all over him and people _everywhere_ that could be a threat despite the Laws governing the banquet? He may as well be walking into his nightmares. The anger flees at the thought and leaves him in fear. Kuroo immediately falls back to take his arm, and Kenma clings to him. Yaku lets him go, and Kuroo sends waves of reassurance through their bond. Underneath it is a faint echo of discomfort, and Kenma does the best he can to ignore it.

“It'll be okay,” Kuroo murmurs, and Kenma makes a faint noise of worry. Kuroo smooths his hair down and bends to kiss him lightly. Kenma kisses him back, chasing his lips for a moment. 

“Need a second?” Kuroo asks, very quiet. Kenma nods, taking a deep breath.

“Four hours,” Yaku reminds him. Kenma closes his eyes and composes himself. He can't fall apart with all of them relying on him. Not with Kuroo relying on him. 

He gets his face into stony control, and nods to the others. They walk up the stairs and open the doors to a short receiving area, where a sleek and hollow servitor waits in the genkan. 

“Welcome,” it says in a warbling voice, unseeing eyes turning to them. It's vaguely humanoid, shaped of teal light, and Kenma notices it has hair pulled up into an elegant bun, a pointless but pretty detail. “Dinner will be held in the Stone Hall. Please excuse the impropriety, but shoes are suggested for the evening, either your own or some provided.”

Kenma could cry with relief. 

“Please provide us with one pair of seven mens shoes,” Kuroo tells the servitor. 

The servitor nods, and Kenma sags against Kuroo's arm as another servitor appears from a side room carrying a pair of black silk dance slippers, simple and elegant. Kuroo helps him to the bench and kneels in front of him, taking his right foot and carefully unlacing the boots. Kenma looks at his bowed head, feeling a flush start on his cheeks as Kuroo gently slips the first boot off and bends to kiss his ankle. Taketora sighs with something like longing, and Inuoka is crimson red he's blushing so hard. In all fairness, it is... intimate. Gentle. Tender.

Kuroo Tetsurou is one of the most dangerous mages in the city, and he willingly kneels at Kenma's will. 

It's a heady feeling, to have all that power before him.

His other foot gets similar treatment, and he sighs with relief as Kuroo slides the new shoes on for him, much kinder to his tender feet. 

“Thank you,” Kuroo murmurs, too soft for all but Taketora's hearing. And Taketora does hear, judging by how pink his cheeks go. But Taketora's heard far worse between them than Kuroo's willing worship of his body.

“Your gratitude is noted,” Kenma murmurs back, lightly touching his cheek before Kuroo helps him back up. The bottoms of his feet are more tender to shoes than most cat chimeras, generally necessitating that shoes be either extremely well padded or non existent. The black slippers fit him nicely, the backs staying up despite his narrow ankles. He's glad now that he opted for black tabi rather than white. 

They follow a third servitor down a hall with tasteful décor and some excellent ikebana, and walk through a pair of giant oak doors into a room with polished granite floors. The Stone Hall is enormous, with traditional low tables set up for each of the different covens and lots of thick, plush cushions for seats. Fukurodani and Nekoma's tables have been seated nearest the doors, with Shinzen, Ubugawa, and Karasuno toward the center. Aoba Johsai is in part of the center as well, and at the tall head table to the back. Itachiyama and Nohebi have been wisely seated as far from Fukurodani and Nekoma as possible. 

Some of Nekoma's other trainees appear from behind them, carrying in the food, and Taketora leads them to their table. It's a big event, with a great many people milling about. A lot of them are young, fresh to the city and joking together. Ubugawa and Shinzen have brought 20 newbies a piece, and Aoba Johsai looks like it has at least 30 judging by all the white and teal. Kenma had wanted more young ones for Nekoma, but three was a perfectly respectable number and Fukurodani had only chosen two for the entire year after all. Kenma curls into Kuroo's side as he surveys the room, looking everyone over. There's a surprising number of chimeras there, lots of cats like him but a decent amount of dog chimera in Shinzen. One extremely tall ram chimera walks past in Aoba Johsai teal, his sleepy eyes fixed on the head table as he carries a large pan of what looks like mashed potatoes covered in... hot sauce? Someone has odd taste.

“Interesting turn out,” Kuroo says as he looks over the crowds. “Damn, Karasuno's tiny. Pretty sure they brought the entire coven.”

“They suffered a lot when Ukai got sick,” Kenma murmurs. “I'm surprised they're still functional.”

“Let's see... For the Heads it was Old Ukai, then that Takeda guy, then he married Ukai's grandson and they were co-Heads until they moved, right?” Kuroo muses.

Kenma nods. “They're missing the God's-Touched pair and Kiyoko, but there's still not many of them.”

“The pair, what're their names...” Kuroo muses as they stroll along. “Ah, right. Nishinoya Yuu and Azumane Asahi. Nishinoya's your age, I think.”

“And loud,” Kenma mutters. Thankfully no one is watching them yet but he still feels wildly uncomfortable and a bit scared. He pulls out his phone and opens a game, relaxing a little as his hair falls forward to hide all of the people around them. Kuroo sends the equivalent of a nudge through their bond as they walk forward into the press of people, and Kenma braces himself when he sees who they're approaching.

“Sawamura Daichi,” Kuroo purrs, and Kenma watches the look of frustration pass over Daichi's face as he turns to face them. He understands completely. “You look _good_. Nice to see you again.” Daichi does look good, in a jet black suit with the top two buttons undone and an orange flower in his lapel. Sugawara, as always by his side, is dressed identically but with orange flowers in a crown on his head instead. They're a spectacularly pretty couple, always have been, but tonight they look especially nice. 

“Kuroo-san,” Daichi says, bowing politely. “Nice to see you too. And Kenma, it's nice to see you.”

Kenma manages to stop fidgeting with his phone long enough to bow, and curls into Kuroo's side. He hates the banquet. Everyone's tense and at their pettiest while dressed in beautiful things, and the food always tastes like ash in his mouth because he's so nervous. Itachiyama is already set up on the other side of the hall with both Sakusa and Akaashi nowhere to be seen, some of their nicer members chatting to some of Nohebi's. Daishou Suguru is of course there, with pretty Mika on his arm and looking pleased with himself. Fukurodani, it seems, has yet to arrive. He can't see any grey and gold suits around the crowds.

“Where's Shouyou?” he asks, and shrinks back a little when Daichi and Suga look at him. 

“I believe he's been talking to some birds outside,” Daichi says after a beat, looking a little embarrassed and obviously curious as to how Kenma knows him. “They wanted to come in with him so he's explaining things to them.”

“He's a Flight mage?” Kuroo sounds surprised. 

“Flight witch. He's not had much training. There wasn't anyone who could teach him in Miyagi. He's not much to look at now, but I'm sure he'll turn into something amazing,” Daichi says confidently, and Kenma leans into Kuroo's hand. “Have you spoken to Oikawa yet?”

“Nah, I figured I'd let his highness stew for a bit,” Kuroo says, fingers slipping under Kenma's collar to rub the soft skin there. Kenma's traitor secondary ears twitch a little, his tail sliding to wrap around Kuroo's leg. The bastard. He knows exactly how nice that feels and how easily it soothes him. “You heard, right?”

“About Fukurodani? I think everybody heard,” Suga says, shivering. His gray wings look very pretty against the black suit. “I heard Watani was in shreds after.”

“He was.” Kuroo's smile is very pleased. “He was a piece of shit anyway, he got what was coming to him. Don't you think so?”

“I can't disagree,” Daichi says, eyes dark. “People like him shouldn't ever be in power, I'm not sad he's gone. Bokuto's a good man, I hope he's a good leader for Fukurodani.”

“He will be,” Kuroo says, rubbing at Kenma's neck. Kenma leans into him a little harder, distracted from the game on his phone. “He's smarter than people give him credit for, or he gives himself credit for.”

“Very true.”

A side door opens and Hinata appears with a tall boy with black hair, both of them apparently arguing. Kuroo makes an interested noise, straightening up a little to look them over as Hinata brushes down his black suit and adjusts his orange tie. “And who's the kid by chibi-chan?”

“Kageyama Tobio, one of our other first years,” Suga says, sighing as he watches the two bicker. “They... don't exactly get along.”

“Really? Hadn't noticed.”

Kenma elbows Kuroo hard, making him wheeze. “Don't be rude, Kuro.”

“Of course, darling.”

Kenma elbows him harder, and puts his phone away as Hinata turns and catches sight of them. 

“Kenmaaa!!!” He comes running over, clearly excited and not seeing the looks from the other Covens as he skids to a halt in front of him. “I didn't know you were coming! It's good to see you! I didn't think you'd come to this!”

“I don't like things like this, but I was obligated,” Kenma says, feeling a bit happier just seeing Hinata beaming at him. Through the bond he can feel Kuroo squirming with jealousy, and ignores it pointedly. Kuroo can suffer for a minute, Kenma's found a friend to help make this hellscape bearable. “Your suit is nice.”

“Thank you!” Shoyou beams at him, and Kenma feels irrationally fond of him already. He's a breath of fresh air. “Kenma, you're so pretty like that. I wanted to wear hakama but we had to go with suits, and yours is so nice! I really like the red, it's a good color on you!”

Daichi clears his throat, and Shoyou blanches, looking at his Coven Head and Suga. “O-oh. Hi Daichi-san, Suga-san. I told the birds what was going on so they won't try and get inside to meet me, and I definitely didn't accidentally start a bush on fire, it was Kageyama's fault.”

“Oh my god,” Daichi mutters, pressing a hand to his forehead. “Oikawa's going to _kill_ us.”

Kuroo laughs, and Shouyou turns to look up at him. His eyes go a little wide. “I like this kid.”

“Ah! You're the tall guy from before!” He looks excited, and also nervous. Kenma doesn't blame him. While he's known Kuroo since he was tiny, Kuroo is tall and intimidating to most people on purpose. “Did you get even taller?!”

Kuroo snorts, and turns his foot so that Shouyou can see that his boots have a good amount of thick heel to them. “Just shoes, chibi-chan. I'm Kuroo Tetsurou of Nekoma.”

“Hinata Shoyou! It's nice to meet you!” Shouyou bows quickly, maybe a little deeper than needed.

“Where'd you meet Kuroo-san before, Hinata?” Daichi says in a dangerously sweet tone, and Kenma hides his smile when Shouyou goes very pale, very fast. “Where did you meet Kenma?”

Shouyou makes a tiny squeaky noise before clearing his throat, and Kuroo narrowly holds in a laugh. “Ah, well, you see, when we went to get things for the banquet we got separated and there were these finches who were upset because there was a cat, and I wanted to see the cat so maaaaybe I got a bit excited and ran to go see the cat only it was Kenma, and Kenma was lost and waiting for Kuroo-san to get him and we talked a bit and then Kuroo-san found him and I went and found Kageyama ahaha, ha. Oops?”

Daichi pinches the bridge of his nose. “ _How_ does this keep happening?” he asks the floor while Kuroo laughs. “Suga, can you-”

Suga kisses his cheek, squeezing his arm. “I'll go fix the bush, and if Tooru complains I'll just kiss him and distract him enough that everyone gets out alive.”

Daichi makes a low, gravelly growling sound, and Suga snickers a little before disappearing out the side door. Daichi grimaces.

“I didn't need the reminder that they're frenemies,” he mutters as Kuroo snickers. “Besides, if Suga did do that Iwaizumi would have all of our heads. And probably make them into volleyballs.”

“Tooru's nice,” Kuroo says, because it's true, unfortunately. Their bond sings with jealousy, and Kenma's fingers twitch at the sensation. Soulbonds are fine, generally, but feeling Kuroo getting more and more upset under his placid exterior is upsetting _him_. “I like him.”

“Out of all the people we could have accidentally made friends with, you picked Oikawa,” Kenma mutters.

“He brought us chocolates and that really nice kotatsu for the fifth house the second time we even talked to him! Do _you_ bring me chocolates when we have meetings?”

Kenma's had about enough of the jealousy, and while he knows full well that Kuroo's trying to bait him into attention he's stressed, tired, and extremely hungry. His hand flashes up to twist in Kuroo's tie, yanking his ear down to mouth level. “Keep this up and you're sleeping on the couch,” he murmurs sweetly, ears flicking back on his head. “I know what you're trying to do. Knock it off.”

“Yes, Kenma,” Kuroo mumbles, and Kenma lets him straighten back up. He likes it when Kuroo gets bratty, he honestly does. It tends to lead to fun play and a really good time for him, but right now is not the time for Kuroo to be acting like this. Shoyou inches closer to them, his eyes big.

“Kenma, do you have claws?”

Kenma looks at his nails. “Sort of. Most cat chimeras don't have as much cat in them as I do.” he flexes his fingers and his nails grow long and curve over. “They just grow and curve. I cut them so they're pointed, see?” 

“Whoooaaaaaa,” Shoyou gasps. “So you have ears, and a tail, and claws.”

“His tongue has little barbs on it too, and he's got really sharp teeth,” Kuroo offers.

“That's so cool!” He stares avidly at Kenma's nails, fascinated. 

“Hinata, we need to go get our place set up,” Daichi says, though he looks more amused than anything. “Kuroo-san and Kenma need to get to their coven as well.”

“Eh.” Kuroo gives a one shouldered shrug. “Tora's handling it. Neither of us are any good at keeping away from the food.”

“I wish we could sit together,” Shoyou sighs, looking deeply disappointed. Kenma completely understands. It's nice to have new friends. “But there's dancing after dinner, right? And mingling? I'm a really bad dancer but we can mingle!”

Kenma nods, and Shoyou beams at him, waving as Daichi drags him off. Kuroo keeps his smile on until they're away, then turns and says softly, “Bo's late.”

“We knew he would be,” Kenma murmurs, stroking his arm and sending a wave of reassurance down their bond. There's still a nugget of jealousy there, smoldering. “You know it hurts him to be here.”

“I know, but still.” Kuroo shifts uncomfortably before kissing the top of Kenma's head. “It's making me nervous.”

“It's fine,” Kenma reassures him, pulling his phone back out. “Do you want to say hello to Oikawa before he arrives after all?”

“I might as well, if he's this late.”

“I'll go to the table with you then. Kyoutani should be back from his trip.”

“I can't believe that you and Kyoutani are friends,” Kuroo mutters as they make their way through the milling people to the end of the Hall.

“You're friends with Oikawa, you don't get to talk.”

Aoba Johsai has taken the head table, and they're distinct in their brilliant whites and teal. Iwaizumi sees them approach and nods hello before waving Oikawa over from where he's been haranguing some of the new kids of the coven, who look like they've already figured out that their esteemed and beautiful leader is a giant nerd. Kyoutani gives Kenma a short nod from where he's sat, getting up and ignoring Yahaba's furious squawk. Kenma peels away from Kuroo, who has his best smile on, and goes to the side of the room with Kyoutani. 

“Red's nice,” Kyoutani says gruffly as they reach each other. “Looks good.”

“You look well,” Kenma mumbles, and shoves his phone at him. They trade, exchange new numbers, and trade back. “How long are you back?”

“Hopefully a month, but might be less if things get serious,” Kyoutani says, a little apologetic. “I got into it with Oikawa again but he and Iwaizumi did a bit of talking. There's some creature up on this island in the middle of ass-fuck nowhere that they want taken care of, and I'm the best of our sealgairs. Yahaba pitched a fit but you know how Oikawa is. If he wants me to go, I'll go.”

Kenma nods, accepting. Trying to get their schedules to line up is near impossible, but a whole month would be nice. “Tuesday?”

“Mm. Thursday?”

“Thursday's good. Noon?”

“Two?”

“Mm. Three?”

Kyoutani nods. “Three's good. I'll text you if anything happens.”

Kenma nods, and they spend the next few minutes in comfortable silence together while Kuroo flirts shamelessly with Oikawa, and Oikawa flirts back just as hard. Making friends with Kyoutani was unexpected, but he got lost almost as much as Kenma did and they were both serious fans of gaming. They tried to get together often to play when they could.

“The fuck's up with him? You going to kick him out of bed tonight?” Kyoutani asks, watching the two with a bit of a frown. Kuroo's being more bold than usual. 

“Thinking about it,” Kenma mutters. “He's being a brat.”

“Dunno how Iwaizumi can handle it, but I guess he's got practice,” Kyoutani says, and Kenma hums in agreement. Iwaizumi hardly looks bothered, barking at Hanamaki and Matsukawa to finish up with setting the table. Kenma knew he'd recognized the ram, it just took context. “Then again, I won't be shocked if Oikawa doesn't do much sitting tomorrow.”

“Kuroo won't be if he keeps this up,” Kenma mutters, feeling a bit vindictive. He _hates_ banquet times, and he's hungry and frustrated and Koutarou still isn't here. “I've already warned him once. He's angling for something, I wish he'd just _ask_ instead of trying to bait me into whatever it is.”

Kyoutani nods sagely. “Brats at the worst. And by that I mean the best.”

Kenma snorts, and finally Kuroo breaks away with a fingerwave from Oikawa. 

“Have fun with that,” Kyoutani says under his breath, and Kenma looks up at Kuroo as he approaches and does not bother to hide his displeasure. Kuroo blanches, as he should, and is about to start offering apologies when the Hall door opens and Fukurodani finally shows up. Bokuto looks excellent, in a sleek grey suit and his hair done up, his tie a gleaming gold. Konoha Akinori beside him looks just as nice, but everyone's carrying their meal food and head to the table marked for them. Koutarou looks tired, no smile on his face, but he doesn't look angry or upset.

“Finally,” Kuroo mutters as Kyoutani goes back to Yahaba. “I wondered when they'd show. He didn't bring many people, just seven all told it looks like.”

“Fukurodani's still in an upset,” Kenma murmurs to him. “He's probably staying surrounded by friends.”

He slips his phone into his pocket and steps to Kuroo's side before looking up at him.

“What do you want?” he asks, done with Kuroo's game. “You've been acting like odd since we got here. What's going on?”

Kuroo's face contorts helplessly a couple times before runs his hand through his hair. “I don't know.”

“Kuro.”

“Seriously. I don't know. I'm upset and can't figure out why, but you being pissed off and punishing me for pissing you off is a normal thing and it's reassuring. I dunno why I'm acting like this.” Kuroo sighs, clearly frustrated. “We're probably in a feedback loop in the bond because we're so stressed. Whatever. Let's say hi to Bo and go sit so we can eat sooner.”

Kenma grabs his arm, pulling him in against him. “Tetsurou.”

Kuroo's eyes get a little wild and he shifts uncomfortably, obviously trying to subtly adjust himself. Hearing Kenma say his given name always riles him up, for whatever strange reason. Kenma doesn't try to guess at the psychology of it. “Kenma-”

“You have me,” Kenma says, cutting him off. “Okay? I'm right here. If you need attention, just ask.” He grimaces and bites out with great reluctance, “I love you.”

Kuroo exhales, some of the tension easing from his shoulders as he does, his eyes softening. Kenma doesn't say it much, so it always means a great deal when he does. “I love you too.” He bends down to kiss the top of Kenma's head, right between his secondary ears. “Thank you.”

“Mmm. Let's get this over with.”

Kenma is more than a little done with this emotional nonsense, and tucks himself under Kuroo's arm as they walk together over to Fukurodani. Bokuto and Konoha are talking quietly, Shirofuku Yukie standing back and watching the scene with careful eyes. Kenma doesn't meet her eyes, looking back down at the ground. She's been Bokuto's official bodyguard for years now, not that he makes her job easy. She'd been with Fukurodani since before Akaashi was taken, and much like Konoha is most loyal to Bokuto. Watani's death had been orchestrated with her information. 

“Bo,” Kuroo calls, and Bokuto turns to smile at them. It's a bit forced, not that Kenma can blame him. 

Their relationship has always been complicated. Bokuto is a comfortable third most of the time, and Akaashi is aware and gave his blessing at the first banquet after they all got together. Their relationship had always been open, and now is even more so. All the same, Bokuto is technically an enemy, and one day may have to chose between his coven and his relationship if they can't overthrow Nekomata. Kenma doesn't want that to happen. Bokuto is a good partner, a good man, and he likes him a great deal. 

He doesn't want to lose him in the coming months. 

“Hey, Kuroo!” Bokuto pulls him into a quick hug and gives Kenma a smile. It looks more real, now. “Good to see you. Here-” he beckons two people over, a girl and a boy. “Our two newbies! This is Suzumeda Kaori, and Onaga Wataru!” 

“I'm a kitchen witch,” Kaori says with a bright smile. “Wataru's an Earth mage.”

Wataru waves, and Bokuto quickly introduces them to the two. Kuroo does all the talking, Kenma still tucked into his side and fidgetting with his phone. Wataru seems nice, with a big easy smile and kind eyes. Kaori does too, and was the one to do most of the cooking on the table. Kuroo enthuses about cooking with her while Bokuto ruffles Wataru's hair. He can see that there's a Binding rune on the inside of each of their wrists, but no Command runes on their necks. It's a subtle statement- they follow Bokuto with trust, rather than being ordered. The one on Kaori's neck has disappeared as well, though Konoha still bears one on the side of his neck that shows over his collar. Then again... Konoha has a great many tragedies in his life. It's not surprising that he's been unwilling to remove the Rune.

“Bokuto-senpai!” Hinata pops up at Kenma's side and Kenma nearly has a heart attack. “Hi! You didn't say you were Fukurodani's Head!”

“Hinata!” Bokuto's whole face lights up, and Kuroo does the mental equivalent of grinding his teeth along their bond. Kenma just stares. _How_ has Hinata run into every major player in the city within a week of moving here? “You look great! And Atsuko, too, awww.” 

Bokuto strokes the air over Hinata's head, apparently seeing something the others can't, and Hinata beams at him with big, starry eyes. Kenma feels oddly jealous, and sends the equivalent of an ear flick down the bond when he can feel Kuroo get smug.

“Kayah looks really nice too, and your suit is so fancy! Did you like the books I brought you? Were they useful? I picked the ones I thought you'd like best!”

Kenma glances over to see that Konoha is trying very hard not to smile too wide, and Shirofuku is outright grinning. Konoha looks happy, at least, which is more than he's been able to say for the past few years. Bokuto and Hinata chatter at each other increasingly fast, Hinata's eyes big and sparkling as he looks up to the taller man. Bokuto looks happy too, and Kenma leans into Kuroo's side. It's good to see their third like this- he's suffered more than enough in his life.

“Incredible,” Kuroo murmurs, and chuckles. Kenma looks through his hair to see that Sawamura's walking over. 

“He doesn't look happy,” Kenma observes, and Kuroo snickers. Kenma elbows him.

Sawamura approaches with a smile on his face that's positively menacing, and claps a huge hand on Hinata's shoulder. “Hi. na. ta.”

Hinata's face turns into a rictus of terror, but Bokuto just beams at Sawamura. “Sawamura-sensei!”

“Sensei?” Sawamura mutters, confused, but Bokuto grabs his free hand.

“I'm so excited there's another Flight gifted here in the city! There's not very many of us and I'd be so happy if you'd let him come train with us sometime and train these ones as well because even though I'm good we always need more teachers! Hinata's been so nice and brought me wonderful books from your shop, you have a great selection Sawamura-san!” Bokuto beams at him, big and easy, and Kenma thinks absently about the time he watched Bokuto actually play with his prey, throwing them back and forth into walls until he grew bored and Akaashi called him away. It's easy to forget how dangerous he is. So very, very easy.

But Sawamura won't forget, he knows. He can see the scarring on Sawamura's neck, peeking out just over the line of his smooth collar. He wonders if the shirt collar feels restrictive or reassuring.

“...I'll speak with Sugawara-san about it,” Sawamura says diplomatically, and Hinata deflates like a sad balloon. Sawamura glances at him and sighs. “I'm sorry about Hinata. He's been running into everyone, it seems. I trust he hasn't bothered you?”

“What? No! Hinata's been great, I'm really grateful,” Bokuto says with a big, easy smile, no guile behind it. “He really put things in perspective for me! Hey, hey, Sawamura-sensei, this is Suzumeda Kaori and Onaga Wataru! They're our only newbies this year. Guys, this is Sawamura Daichi of Karasuno, he's super smart and strong and he's a really great Earth mage, and his cafe is the _best_.”

Sawamura looks startled and a bit pleased by the praise. “Pleasure to meet you both.”

“Sawamura-sensei,” Wataru says, excited, “if you don't have too many students, I'd really like to take classes with you. Fukurodani has some really good Earth mages but I want to learn a lot of different styles.”

Hinata's eyes shine as he tugs on Sawamura's sleeve. “If Wataru and I switch places for a day could we do it? Please?!”

“We'll talk to Suga,” Sawamura says, rolling his eyes. “ _You're_ already in hot water for all the sneaking out you've been doing, so don't push your luck Hinata.”

“S-sorry.” Hinata doesn't look even slightly sorry. Kenma can't quite hide his smile. “AH! Kenma, you smiled!”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Kenma says, schooling his face while Bokuto throws back his head and laughs. 

Yaku appears at Kenma's side, bowing slightly. “Kuroo-dono, I'll take Kenma-san to his seat. Masaki-san and Ogano-san wish to speak with you.”

It's important to keep up appearances here, but Kenma can't quite help the twitch of distaste at the sound of -san on Yaku's tongue. It's better than being referred to with -hiko, though, as Nekomata insists when they're in court. It's cruel, to be reminded so forcefully that he's essentially a well bred toy for Kuroo's amusement and not someone brought to the negotiation table. He's lesser than Kuroo by miles in the eyes of the Coven. He glances up at Kuroo, who looks less than pleased by this, but nods. Yaku takes Kenma's arm, somber eyes flicking over to Konoha, who gives him a lazy smirk and finger wave. Yaku's eyes narrow slightly as he leads him away from the others. Kenma can feel Hinata's eyes on them as they go.

They're halfway through the room when Sakusa and Akaashi appear out of the hall, and Kenma's eyes widen a little. Akaashi is dressed how Sakusa normally makes him, in hakama that for once are black instead of lilac. He's a step behind Sakusa, who's in a full and regal traditional hakama outfit and has an ornate black and purple veil drawn over his nose and mouth. Sakusa looks skittish as ever, a smokescreen for his true power, and as they pass he shies away from Kenma and Yaku. Akaashi's teal eyes meet Kenma's, and Kenma feels the slightest caress of power down his arm. He immediately _aches_ with loss as it pulls away, and it takes everything in him not to pull away from Yaku and grab Akaashi's arm to pull him in. 

He _misses_ Akaashi, misses his snark and humor, how he makes Bokuto laugh and turns Kuroo indignant. He misses the friend who taught him how to conserve pieces of energy so those who siphon it from him won't find it, the friend who likes the same books as him and who loves to spend time in simple silence together. He misses the partner that Akaashi barely got to be with him; he misses that Akaashi never got to really find his place with them. When he sits on the thick cushions brought for him he feels an uncomfortable mixture of anger and upset.

“I'm sorry,” Yaku says quietly, pouring him some tea. “I know you wanted to talk to the others. Appearances are everything, and we've already taken risks with you talking to Kyoutani.”

“I know.” Kenma takes the cup. “It doesn't make it easier.”

It's always been like this. Behind closed doors, Kenma and Kuroo are equals in their power with friends and confidants, primary partners to each other with Bokuto as their beloved third. They have a loyal family that trust them to do the right thing. But within Nekoma's court and when out in Coven business, Kenma is a doll- fragile, breakable, expensive and pretty. Kuroo Eisuke had been given charge of Kenma when he was small, following his parents passing, and raised him alongside Tetsurou. Not as Tetsurou's brother, it was always clear that Eisuke would never allow them to be truly family, but always as a potential addition to the weapon his son was becoming. All the same, Kuroo was 15 and Kenma was 14 when their bond developed, tying them together for life. As Tetsurou rose through the ranks of the coven with bloody hands, Kenma was always their to supplement his power, or Eisuke's. At sixteen he officially became part of the court with Fukunaga beside him to become living batteries for whatever Nekomata desired. It had taken two years for Kuroo to come to power as the youngest ever Head of Operations within the Coven, and the prize he was given was Kenma. 

Kenma looks over the crowd. Kuroo's speaking with Masaki, a tiny blonde girl at his side who's positively trembling. Kuroo smiles and laughs at whatever she's saying, and slowly she relaxes. She looks up at him with a little awe, a bit of hero worship there already. Kenma hides his smile in his cup. Kuroo loves to teach, loves it more than anything, and he's willing to bet that this is the Blood witch that Masaki mentioned before. 

The gong sounds as a warning for everyone to take their seats and the Heads to go up to the front of the room. Kuroo sends a wave of reassurance down the bond, Kenma sending fondness back, and the Heads all go to join Oikawa on the slight dais. Iwaizumi looks like he's about to burst with pride where he's sat at the dais table at the space for Oikawa's right hand. Hinata is a bright orange speck among the black suits of Karasuno, and Kenma watches as he bickers with the black-haired boy from earlier about where they're going to sit before Tanaka plops down between the two.

Oikawa practically sparkles as he stands up at the head of the room. Everyone quiets down, turning to look at him as he beams out over them all. Kuroo grins, and Kenma narrowly avoids rolling his eyes at the little burst of pride that he feels echo down the bond. Oikawa and Kuroo had made friends after Kuroo had run into him by accident while on a job for Nekomata breaking bones, and apparently been too curious to do the smart thing and leave the blatant illegality alone. Kuroo had brought him back to their first apartment, stinking drunk and the pair of them giggling like loons. 

It hadn't been the best first impression.

“Good evening everyone! Welcome to the 133rd annual matriculation banquet. We have so many new faces here this year. As is traditional, we'd like everybody to come up and stand in the center while the Heads or their representatives give the welcoming speeches. Please, come up now.”

All the first years stand up and shuffle into the middle of the room, looking nervous or excited, and line up as if they're back in school waiting for the daily assembly. It's a bit cute to see Inuoka hurrying to straighten Shibayama's jacket, and Teshiro shaking like a leaf. 

Yaku props his arm on the table, grinning, while Taketora is all but about to explode he looks so proud of their kids. Kenma smiles a little as Inuoka grabs Shibayama's hand, and Shibayama goes pink.

Kenma tunes out most of the speeches, fidgeting with his sleeves to distract from the press of bodies around him. Yaku shifts so that his line of sight is blocked on one side, Taketora doing the same on the other. Ogano goes on for quite a while when you get him started, Masaki is fond of overly flowery words, Oikawa talks at length about working together, Daishou speaks like he's spitting the words out, and Sakusa mumbles. He comes back to awareness when it's Kuroo's turn.

“Good evening,” Kuroo says, bowing gracefully. “I am Kuroo Tetsurou, representing Nekoma for Coven Head Nekomata Yasufumi-sama. Welcome to the city, and to your new home.” He straightens, looking over the crowd with an easy smile. He looks so handsome in his suit, for once not rumpled. “There's a lot of different things I could tell you, but here's my only pieces of advice as you start on this journey. There is no one way, no pure and simple path to exactly what you want. Each person will take a different path to reach their dreams- let them. In the immortal words of Alfred Lord Tennyson's 'Ulysses'; _come, my friends. Tis not too late to seek a newer world. We are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are: one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find- and not to yield_ I look forward to what new world each of you will create.”

He bows again, and Kenma can see that there's a few of the kids who look absolutely awed. He understands completely, and feels the words in his soul.

Kuroo's eyes meet his through the distance. They'll build a new world for these young, still innocent people, so that none of them will ever taste the pain of Command and Binding ever again. They'll never know what it is for their bodies to move outside of their own control, never know the horrors of being unable to stop themselves. Never wonder if they've been ordered to forget something.

Never find out that they have.

It's Bokuto's turn next, and he bounds up and bows quickly before straightening up so fast Kenma's surprised he doesn't get whiplash. Bokuto looks at the group, and Kenma's heart aches a little at how gentle and warm his smile is, the excitement in his eyes.

“Hey hey hey! Look at all of you,” he says, his gold eyes gleaming. “I'm Bokuto Koutarou, new Coven Head of Fukurodani! I'm bad at speeches, always have been, but do your best! This city's a magical kind of place. Skyscrapers, shrines, little hidden away parks where incredible things can happen. And you! You help make this place what it is. No one ever steps in the same water twice, or on the same ground. This world, this amazing world, it's always changing! So are you. Flow with the change, accept that the world is always turning. Learn what you can, from whoever you can! Be strong and be smart, and go forward always finding something to take to heart, some joy and some love wherever you find it!” He turns, just slightly, and Kenma can see that Akaashi is leaning forward from his place at Itachiyama's table. “Find love if you want it, happiness if you don't! And don't let it slip away. Let's have a great year!”

He steps back with a bow, and Akaashi looks so very proud. So does Kuroo, who pats his back firmly as Sawamura steps up- the last to speak.

“I'm Sawamura Daichi of Karasuno,” he says, his low voice melodious and soothing. “I know you're all hungry, so I'll make this as quick as I can.” He looks over them all, and Kenma feels a shiver run down his spine. Sawamura is unassuming but so very powerful. It's a mistake to think he's anything aside from a powerhouse. “You're all standing here on the brink of real adulthood. Slowly, so very slowly, you'll learn and grow. Like others have said, the only thing constant in the world is change. We, as your teachers, will change you. And you, as our students, will change us. Let us make sure that those changes are for the better of the world and not the worse.” He bows, short and to the point, and steps back.

Kenma tunes back out for the rest of the bowing and applause, and when Kuroo returns to the table at his side he immediately curls up against him.

“How was it?” Kuroo asks, kissing the top of his head. 

“Very good,” Kenma tells him, sighing in relief at having Kuroo close to him again.

The gong sounds, everyone offers their thanks for the food, and noise fills the room as people talk and laugh among themselves. Kenma all but devours the food placed before him- he's been hungry for ages. He ignores the conversation for the most part, adding his input where he feels it's needed or wanted, and generally just relaxes at last.

Once everyone seems to be winding down from dinner itself, the main floor is cleared off for dancing. A band sets up in the spare space between the Nohebi and Ubugawa contingents. Kenma watches as Akaashi rises from his place at Sakusa's side with a quick bow and heads out onto the dance floor. He's walking, too refined to run, but it's a very _brisk_ walk. Bokuto all but rockets to his feet at Fukurodani's table as the band tunes up.

Shouyou appears beside him, waving, and Kenma nods him into a seat as Kuroo bristles internally.

“Hi!” Shouyou smiles brightly at them, and offers them both mochi shaped like flowers from the Karasuno table. He has a ghostly crow sitting in his hair, looking much like Kayah who's up in the rafters. “I brought these for you! Oh, and this is Atsuko.”

Kuroo brightens, mental hackles lowering. He takes one and hands the other to Kenma. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He looks out at the dance floor. “Wow, it's Akaashi that's Bokuto's boyfriend? That's so cool. And sad. They're so pretty together.”

“Yeah,” Kuroo says, leaning on the table. “Akaashi Keiji, possibly the most beautiful man in the world.”

They really are beautiful together, and as the music starts Bokuto sinks into a bow. Akaashi bows back just as deep, and they take each others hands as the music starts, loud and bombastic. It's some sort of big band piece, and there's a bit of a smile on Akaashi's face as he steps in close. Kenma leans on Kuroo as they begin to dance, eyes fixed on each other. Akaashi's hakama swirls to the music, the black fabric turning him into an inky vision as they spin together, as alone as could be to the music. Akaashi lets Bokuto lead, head tilting to the side as his eyes light up with happiness. They're a perfectly matched pair on the dance floor, feet flashing in the complicated but smooth steps of a swing dance, and Akaashi whoops slightly as Bokuto pulls him into a lift.

“How cruel it must be,” Kuroo says quietly, watching them. “Suffering with a soulbonded you can't even touch except twice a year. It's a goddamn tragedy.”

His hand finds Kenma's under the table, squeezing it as the music wells up and spins through the air. Akaashi is a vision as he and Bokuto dance, perfectly in step as ever. Daichi and Suga take to the floor as well, darkly handsome. Hinata leans forward, watching them.

“They're so sad,” he whispers, and Kenma nods.

“They don't see each other except for a few hours twice a year,” Kuroo says quietly to Hinata. “It's complicated.”

He gets up, squeezing Kenma's hand once in reassurance before stepping out onto the dance floor as the music changes to a slow foxtrot. Akaashi sees him and his face eases a little, a tiny smile brightening it. Kenma watches Kuroo cut in, and Akaashi graciously takes his hand as Bokuto steps off of the dance floor to watch them. They're a beautiful sight together, and Kuroo's eyes are soft as they begin a smooth foxtrot. He and Akaashi have been close for a long time, before Bokuto even joined Fukurodani. Kuroo has missed his friend, and Kenma has missed that smile on Kuroo's lips. 

Akaashi rests his head against Kuroo's shoulders as they sway together, Kuroo closing his eyes as he rests his cheek against Akaashi's hair. Kenma can see his mouth moving, knows he and Akaashi are talking. Their bond echoes sad-happy-lonely-missing, and he lets Hinata distract him with Atsuko's antics on the table, watching the ghostly crow hop around to try and catch things thrown in the air. Kayah flies over from Bokuto, and Kenma feeds her little pieces of magic in between gently stroking her soft feathers to reassure her. He looks up to find Bokuto looking at him, smiling slightly, and Kenma kisses Kayah's head when no one else is looking. Bokuto shivers, some of the tension in his face easing.

When the song ends Akaashi straightens up, kissing Kuroo's cheek, and Kuroo presses a long kiss to Akaashi's forehead before handing him back off to Bokuto. Bokuto takes Akaashi's hand gratefully, and they begin to dance once more. Kuroo returns to the table, sitting back at Kenma's side.

“Feel better?” Kenma murmurs.

“Yeah.” Kuroo kisses his cheek. “From Akaashi. He said he's glad we're taking care of Bo and he misses you.”

Hinata sighs, watching as Bokuto and Akaashi dance. “They're so good together,” he says. “I wonder if I'll ever have someone like that.”

Kuroo, being the hopeless romantic he is, ruffles Hinata's hair. “You will, chibi-chan. I'm sure you'll find a nice chimera, develop a soul bond, and have a romance that people talk about for centuries.”

Hinata looks over at him with big, curious eyes. “What's a soulbond?”

“Woops, look at the time,” Kuroo says cheerfully as Kenma sends the equivalent of an shoulder punch down the bond. “I have something I desperately have to do right this second.”

“O-okay?” Hinata watches as Kuroo flees to go talk to Ogano. “That was weird. Do you know?”

“Talk to Sugawara-san about it,” Kenma says, not willing to get into that particular talk. “How'd you meet Bokuto, Shouyou?”

Hinata goes red and launches into the story. It's somewhat funny but also very sweet, and so very like Bokuto to immediately take an unknown under his generous wings. By the time Kuroo returns with a glass of champagne, Hinata's forgotten all about soul bonds and is trying to teach Atsuko tricks.

“Kayah knows tricks,” Kenma says as Kuroo hands him the glass. He takes it gratefully. “Shouyou's trying to teach Atsuko to put things in a cup.”

“Oh?” Kuroo looks over at Shouyou.

“C'mon, Atsuko,” Shouyou coaxes. The crow makes a _grawk_ noise, picks up napkin, hops over, and promptly stuffs it into Kuroo's jacket. “Atsuko!”

Kuroo laughs, taking the napkin back out. “Nice try.”

Shouyou pouts, resting his chin in his hand. “He'll get it eventually. Sorry, Kuroo-san.”

“No problem. So, uh, why are you hanging out here if your coven's over there?” 

Shouyou fidgets with a fork, looking over at his coven. The older ones are laughing, the blond kid and his boyfriend are trying to dance, and Sugawara has clearly had a bit much to drink with how he's planted in Sawamura's lap is anything to go by. “Kageyama's mad at me, and I have to deal with him later since we share a... I guess they're like mini apartments. Anyway. We had another fight because we fight about basically everything since he's just so _rude_ and I don't want to deal with him. Kenma's a lot nicer and you're cool.”

Kenma barely manages to keep a straight face at how absolutely _delighted_ Kuroo is at being called cool.

“Well, we're happy to have you,” Kuroo says, and Shouyou beams up at him. 

“Thank you!”

Yaku leans over from where he's been chatting with Inuoka. “Don't be fooled kid, Kuroo's the biggest dork around. He's just got the ridiculous hair and the tall thing going for him. He's dumb as shit the rest of the time.”

“Fuck you, Yaku! I've got a degree in Chemistry, you little shit,” Kuroo growls, making a rude gesture, and Yaku snickers, going back to his conversation. 

“You have a degree and you're a mage?” Shouyou asks eagerly.

“Chemistry, with a minor in biological engineering,” Kuroo says, brightening up. Kenma hides his smile, but he sends a wash of pride down their bond. Kuroo's worked very hard for it. “I just graduated about two months ago. You can do both, even if people act like you have to choose. I did night classes.”

“And you're a coven head?!” Shouyou's eyes go wide.

“I'm not a head,” Kuroo says, “Just head of operations. It's different. Our Coven Head doesn't leave the building much, so I handle all the things outside the Coven headquarters for him.”

“That sounds like a lot of work.”

“It is,” Kuroo nods, “but Kenma helped me a lot while I was getting done. I graduated a year early because of him.”

“That's amazing!”

“He is, isn't he?” Kuroo croons, and Kenma scrunches up his nose but can't stop his smile this time when Kuroo kisses his cheek. Shouyou beams at them, and looks like he's about to say something when Tanaka walks up behind him and claps him on the shoulder. 

“Alright, alright, leave the cats alone,” he says, ruffling Shouyou's hair. “C'mon, we're finishing up dessert!”

“Okaaaaaaay,” Shouyou says with a heavy sigh. “I was having fun!” He stands up and Atsuko hops over to Kuroo with another napkin and presses it into his hands. Kuroo laughs, taking it and tucking it in his pocket. 

“Thanks,” he tells the crow, who makes another _grawk_ noise and flies to Hinata's shoulder. “We'll see you again, kid, don't worry. Daichi and I go waaaay back, we'll probably do joint trainings sometimes.”

“Really?!”

Tanaka looks thoughtful, but says nothing as he drags Shouyou off once they've said goodbye.

Kuroo watches them go with a little half smile. “I like him.”

“Good,” Kenma says, turning his attention to the dancers. It's some sort of electro swing now, and Bokuto and Akaashi are doing one hell of a jive. Dance has always been their thing, but their favorite kind hasn't popped up yet. “I do too.”

“So if I asked you to dance...”

“How long have you known me, Kuro?”

“It was worth a shot.”

The music ends, and Kenma watches as Akaashi glances over at where Sakusa is sitting and grimaces slightly, reaching up a hand to lightly touch the mark on his neck while Bokuto's distracted. Sakusa's expression is half hidden by the veil that Kenma knows obscures his mask from view, but he doesn't look pleased. The band is preparing for another piece, and Akaashi hurries over, quickly speaking to the conductor, who nods and waves the orchestra down. They switch music, all of them glancing at Akaashi with some expressions of sympathy, and Kenma bites his lip. He knows what piece will be coming. Kuroo's hand finds his, and he squeezes tight. 

“By request,” the conductor announces, “And the Waltz Goes On.”

Kenma sees Oikawa's head snap around from where he's been speaking to Konoha, both of them turning to look at the dance floor. He sees other heads turn as well.

The music starts slow, a clarinet and saxophone duetting. Bokuto and Akaashi are all but wrapped in each other, matching the music perfectly as each new instrument is added. The violins sing out in a mournful wail as they spiral around the dance floor, the music swelling in sound. Others join them on the floor, but none are quite as eye catching as the pair of them, silver and black together, eyes fixed on each other as they spin in the light. Bokuto has eyes only for Akaashi. The music is sad at first, slowing to almost a standstill before it becomes light and airy, almost joyful. Akaashi smiles as it hits the new section, brilliant and bright, and the brass swells. The two themes melt together, waxing lyrical, and Bokuto and Akaashi are a perfect match for the music. Akaashi is spun and caught, their feet flashing slightly as they dance together. The waltz has always been their dance.

Kenma can see Oikawa wiping away a few tears as he watches the pair, nestled in Iwaizumi's arms, and he turns to see that Kuroo has a few in his eyes as well. His heart aches through the bond, and Kenma's does as well. He leans against him, and Kuroo wraps an arm around him tight.

Akaashi's beautiful wings extend their full distance, lifting up to point at the sky, all nine feet of wingspan in gleaming majesty as the music swells towards the climax. The others have moved back on the dance floor, and Kuroo's heart feels as though it will break as they watch the pair spin, Akaashi's wings rustling as they nearly lift him from the ground. The violins wail, the cellos following them perfectly as a soloist slides up a scale and the violin all but _screams_.

The music stops with a triumphant clash, and Akaashi's wings fold as if he's been shot, retracting back in tight to his body. He and Bokuto stare at each other, never breaking eye contact, knuckles white where they hold each other. The room is near silent, everyone looking at the pair. They aren't even breathing hard, despite the workout of the complex dance, and Bokuto leans forward so that their faces almost touch. They exchange breaths, not so much as blinking, and it's as if they've become statues, frozen in time together. 

Akaashi steps away first, head dipping to expose the Binding and Command runes on the back of his neck as he bows deeply. Bokuto bows as well, face turned to stone, but they don't walk away from each other until Itachiyama's second in command steps up and takes Akaashi's arm to physically lead him back to where Sakusa's still sat, and has been watching them. Bokuto watches him go, and finally turns away to return to Fukurodani's table. Konoha looks gutted, but he says nothing as they gather their things.

Kenma feels like he's been gutted as well, and he rises.

“I'm done,” he says quietly. “I'll have Tora escort me home.”

“Sure.” Kuroo kisses his hand, his eyes dark. “Our favorite?”

“I need a good sunrise,” Kenma says, and goes to find Taketora.

oOo

Their favorite apartment is one that's high, high above the city, in the pent house apartment over a club. It's on the border of Nekoma and Fukurodani, and it's one of the properties that Nekoma actually owns. People live in it, because it's amazing what you can do with soundproofing spells and magical key cards, but the very top floor belongs to Kenma and Tetsurou alone. The only person outside of Nekoma's inner circle who knows about it is Bokuto, who's spent more than a few nights in it.

Tetsurou comes home a little drunk and very tired, and climbs the spiral staircase that leads up to the large loft that serves as their bedroom. Kenma's already in bed, hair tousled every which way on the pillow. His ears twitch as Tetsurou comes up the stairs, and he sits up to look at him.

“I drank maybe more than I should,” Tetsurou tells him, and falls onto their bed. It's essentially a nest of blankets on top of a California king size bed. “And I feel shitty. Daishou and Mika are trying for kids again. I did the polite conversation shit.”

Kenma makes a face, a bit sad and a bit uncomfortable. “Even though...”

“Yeah.” Tetsurou burrows under the covers. “One of his underlings is carrying them this time. Or trying to, at least. Promise me you won't do that.”

“You know I'm sterile,” Kenma says tartly, kissing his forehead. “I'm a calico, I'm safe from being used like that. Neither of us want children anyway, unless you've changed your mind?”

“Nope.” Tetsurou shudders. “Thanks, I'm good. I've got too many nightmares worrying about you and the coven to worry about a kid too. Just... fuck, Kenma. Mika's nearly died from trying to carry chimera bred kids twice now. I hate Nohebi, but Mika... she's willing to die to make a family even though they could adopt.”

Chimera's could reproduce with full humans, for the most part, but it took a great deal of magic and a lot of time and care to be certain that the offspring would live. Reptile chimeras had it the worst, cat chimeras the easiest, and as a half King Cobra chimera Daishou was struggling against his chimera heritage and Mika's own powerful Necromancy. The children would only be a quarter chimera if they survived, but... Tetsurou shivers. The risk to bringing those children to the world was very high.

“It's their business,” Kenma says, but his voice is gentle. “Daishou may be dirty and underhanded but he loves Mika more than anything in the world.”

“Yeah.” Tetsurou sighs, pulling Kenma in so they're pressed up together. “Everything's shitty. I'm sad and I miss Akaashi.”

“I do too,” Kenma says, nestling up against him. “I miss seeing Koutarou smile.”

Tetsurou presses his face to Kenma's hair, and lets sleep take him.

It feels like barely any time has passed before his phone is buzzing and he's dragged out of his sleep. He fumbles it open, notes that the number is the one Kai most recently used, and puts the phone to his ear. He's alone in bed, and the clock says it's somewhere around 9:30 AM. “Kuroo,” he says, doing his best impression of someone awake.

“ _Morning_ ,” Kai says dryly. “ _Nekomata wants to see you at 4:30 this afternoon so cancel any plans you had for tonight._ ”

“Oh, and here I was so looking forward to Scrabble night with Kenma,” Tetsurou yawns. “Did he say why?”

“ _I'll let you guess the answer to that one._ ”

“I hate it when he's cryptic,” Tetsurou mutters, rubbing his forehead. He can hear a faint clatter downstairs, and he feels down along their soulbond. Kenma, the bond tells him, who's trying to cook. He feels frustrated, and Tetsurou groans, already wanting to go back to bed. “Kenma's trying to cook again. I gotta go keep the house from burning down. The usual place?”

“ _Yeah. How was the banquet?_ ”

“Good. You should have gone. Kenma made friends and I just about got shanked by Iwaizumi.”

“ _Kenma made a friend?_ ”

“You decide to ask about that instead of Iwaizumi?”

Kai snorts. “ _If you were flirting with Oikawa I wouldn't be surprised to see your head mounted above Aoba Johsai's door. Besides, Iwazumi could kill me and I'd thank him for his time. I'm straight and I'd still be grateful if he decided to dirty his blade with me._ ”

“That's fair,” Tetsurou says, grinning at the ceiling. “Nah, Kenma met this kid from Karasuno the other day. One of their newbies. Little orange haired guy, Hinata ...Shouta? No, Shouyou. They ran into each other the other day when they both got lost.”

“ _Cute_ ,” Kai laughs. “ _Yaku's got Taketora's leash today, I'm pairing up with Fukunaga for some work on the building's wards while Yaku does the major wards on the borders. He'll be at the building by 3 at the latest. You need them for anything aside from what you had on your calendar?_ ”

“Nah. Just tell Tora thanks for getting Kenma home safe last night.” Tetsurou levers himself out of his nest, accepting his defeat. “I'll see you later.”

“ _Bye, boss,_ ” Kai says, and Tetsurou hangs up.

The day is officially started. The sun is over the horizon, still low in the sky in its ascent. Tetsurou runs a hand through his hair and after a sigh, rises and heads down the spiral staircase. Kenma's in the kitchen area just as before, and to his surprise so is Bokuto, sitting at the kitchen island and juggling three little balls of flame.

“Hey, Bo,” Tetsurou says, feeling a little more at ease to see him there with Kenma. Bokuto tips his head to let Tetsurou kiss his temple down to his jaw, making a pleased little noise.

“Morning!”

“Shouldn't you be at your place?” Tetsurou asks, wrapping his arms around him and resting his chin on top of Bokuto's hair. “Not that I'm complaining to see your pretty face, just surprised.”

“I slipped Konoha,” Bokuto says with a surprising amount of cheer. “I couldn't stand being there.”

_Not after seeing Akaashi last night_ , Tetsurou reads through the lines. He chooses to give Bokuto the out he clearly wants. “I don't blame you, that building is ugly as shit.”

“Hey! I like my building! At least we don't go with Edgy Gamer as a color scheme!”

“Yeah, that's fair.” He kisses Bokuto's head before walking around the kitchen island to Kenma, who tips his face up for a kiss and sighs as Tetsurou runs possessive hands down his sides. He's stolen one of Tetsurou's shirts again, one that's oversized even on him, and a quick feel underneath reveals exactly nothing in the way of underwear. “Good morning, glorious one.”

Kenma makes a face at him. “I'm cooking eggs.”

“Mmm, correction most exquisite sunrise of my life, you _were_ cooking eggs. You are no longer cooking eggs, as I am here and going to make sure you don't burn the place down.”

“That was _one time_.”

“Sparkling dewdrop of perfection, light of my life and joy of my loins-”

Bokuto chokes on his drink.

“-Shut up, Bo, most magnificent shining beacon of divine grace,” Tetsurou coos, seeing Kenma's lips quiver as he fights a smile, “I love you more than words can express, oh golden paragon of virtue, but you are a fucking disaster in the kitchen. It fills my twisted little heart with glee to see you try, though.”

“Shut up.” Kenma passes him a ladle, for some unknown reason. Nothing he's cooking needs a ladle. “Fine. Have at it.”

“Thank you, moon blossom of-”

“ _Stop_ , Kuro, you're awful.”

Bokuto laughs, reeling Kenma in to pull him up onto his lap. Kenma goes willingly, and Tetsurou sticks his tongue out at the the two of them.

“Nekomata wants me at the office this afternoon,” he tells them. “Kai just called. He didn't say what for, so I'm guessing it's probably a run down of everything from last night.”

“Mm.” Kenma settles in Bokuto's arms, tail wrapping up onto his lap. “Let's hope.”

Breakfast goes well, Bokuto and Tetsurou sniping at each other and laughing, and once they've eaten Tetsurou heads back upstairs for another short nap. Bokuto follows, stripping out of his clothes and climbing into bed with him.

“Hey,” Tetsurou murmurs, smiling, and tips his head up to accept a kiss from Bokuto. “You're going to be busy now, running Fukurodani. I'm going to miss waking up with you.”

“We'll make it work,” Bokuto promises, cuddling up against him. “Akaashi made me promise to spend more time with you.”

Tetsurou strokes the white-and-grey hair, eyes going soft. “He still trying to say you shouldn't hold out for him?”

“Nah. He's accepted that I love him and I'm not leaving him even if everything's awful,” Bokuto sighs. “I told him he should find happiness where he can while he's trapped there. He's going to sleep with Motoya.”

“And you're okay with that?” Tetsurou asks gently, stroking his hair. 

“Yeah.” Bokuto nuzzles against his hand. “Akaashi deserves to have a good time too, even if it is with Itachiyama weasels. Motoya's not too bad. He's the best of the lot and he's basically Akaashi's handler anyway, so if they fuck maybe Akaashi can get some more freedoms from goodwill.”

Tetsurou's heart aches. “You've gotten really good at scheming, babe.”

Bokuto shrugs. “It's the depression. Keeps the mania down and clears my head in a different kind of way, but it makes me a lot less fun to be with.”

“We've gotta get you back on stabilizer meds, Bo. You know this is bad.”

“I know.” Bokuto sighs, low and heavy, and rolls so that his head is pillowed on Tetsurou's chest. “I'm real tired, Tets'. And I hate trying new medication, it's awful.”

“I know, baby. But I need you at your best if we're going to pull this off,” Tetsurou says, stroking through his hair. “Can you promise me you'll at least think about it?”

“Yeah. I'll talk to Konoha, get something set up. For you.” Bokuto wraps an arm around him, big and heavy and covered in arrays. He spits out a string of syllables and Kayah becomes visible, perching on the edge of the bed. Tetsurou beckons to her and she hops up the bed and onto his chest next to Bokuto's face. He strokes her soft feathers, and Bokuto lets out a happy sigh. 

“What's it feel like, when I touch her?” Tetsurou asks, soft as he strokes down her chest.

“Like scratching every itch you didn't know was bugging you,” Bokuto says, blissed out. “She's a piece of my soul, y'know.”

“Yeah.” Tetsurou runs his fingers over her head, straightening feathers as best he can, and keeps on doing so until Bokuto's breathing evens out and he falls asleep. Kayah hops up onto his head and perches there, burrowing down in his hair, and Tetsurou smiles at her before sinking into sleep himself.

He sleeps dreamlessly, for once, and wakes a little past two in the afternoon to Kenma sending a wave of awareness down their bond. He yawns widely as he wakes, stretching. Kenma sits on the bed, playing his new game with Kayah watching from his shoulder. 

“You'll need to leave soon,” Kenma tells him. “If you want to get to the offices and be dressed to court standards in time.”

“You're right.” But Bokuto is a heavy and reassuring weight on his chest, and Kenma is right there. He aches with the desire to stay, and puts his arm over his eyes. He doesn't want to leave them. The coming months are going to be rough on all of them, Bokuto especially, and he wants to stay like this forever- warm and safe, high up away from the ugliness of the world.

Kenma crawls over, his much smaller hand reaching down to hold Tetsurou's. He squeezes, once, and that's enough. 

Tetsurou sighs, rubbing Bokuto's back, and Bokuto comes awake with a wide yawn that shows off his sharp incisors. “C'mon, sweetheart, let me up.”

“Mrgh.”

Bokuto rolls over obediently, and Tetsurou climbs out of bed. Getting dressed is almost pointless- he'll be required to change once he reaches the Coven, but he pulls on slacks and a red button down just in case. He puts on his watch, pulls on a thin white tie that looks like it might actually be the one from their sex toy box-

“Not that one, Kuro.”

-And that answers that question. He pulls off the tie and leaves the top two buttons open. He pulls on black tabi and black shoes, slipping a coat on and his phone and wallet into a pocket. 

“Am I good?” He asks, turning around to his partners. Kenma nods, Bokuto gives him a thumbs up. “Great.”

He strides over, kissing Kenma's forehead. “I shouldn't be gone forever but don't wait up for me.”

“Sure.” Kenma tugs him down to kiss his cheek, quick and light, and sends a wave of reassurance and love down their bond.

“Take Kenma to the other apartment once you two are done,” Tetsurou says, and Bokuto nods, sitting up in bed. The sheets pool around his hips, leaving his heavily scarred chest on display. The burn marks that come up from his left hip are Tetsurou's least favorite. Tetsurou bends, kissing him once more, and Bokuto sighs against his lips. “I love you. Promise me you'll talk to Konoha.”

“I will. Love you too, Tets'.”

Tetsurou can't quite help giving them both one more kiss before taking the stairs down. He feels lonely all the way out the door.

oOo

Nekoma's Coven building is attached to a shrine, and hidden from the eyes of the public. It appears to be part of the shrine complex, and is well guarded against the curious public. Tetsurou takes the secret entrance against the fair wall of the _honden_ within the shrine complex, and finds himself in the main estate. The place is very traditional and very old, a palatial estate with brilliant red, black, and gold everywhere. The silent servitors of the estate flank him as he strides down the entrance hall, others of the coven bowing before him as he passes. In his black and red, he knows he looks intimidating. The intricate dragon and cat statues that twine around the columns seem to watch him with their beady eyes. Most of those within the covens walls are loyal to Kenma and him. Those who aren't will be soon, or they'll be removed.

Fukunaga appears from a side hall dressed in his soft robes, carrying a _haori_ for him in sheer black silk with the Nekoma kamon in red on the back. Tetsurou holds his arms out and Fukunaga slips it onto his shoulders to signify that he's officially in Residence as the Head of Operations, settling it before leading him away to another room. As his official assistant when Tetsurou works within the court, Fukunaga keeps him in line. A cat chimera woman in a kimono waits for him in the side room, kneeling in silence, and he sits across from her without prompting. Fukunaga Miyo is his Fukunaga's mother, and mistress of ceremony. She's also mute, unlike her son who speaks only in puns- Nekoma's chimeras often carry more of the animal side than most, and her vocal chords never developed for speech. She's been a foster mother to all the young children of Nekoma, and Tetsurou reveres her far more than his biological mother.

“Good afternoon, Miyo-san,” he says quietly, giving her a full bow. She looks touched and smiles at him as she picks up a pot of paint and a brush.

He closes his eyes as Miyo paints his face- lips turning blood red, eyes touched at the bottom with fat dollops of red, jet black lines around his lids and a black stripe down the center of his bottom lip. Thick white stripes follow his cheekbones and become delicate tapered points almost at the corners of his mouth, and gold dust is brushed around his eyes. A thin brush paints Runes in the center of his forehead and on his temples in black, and he winces slightly as the magic binds to him. It's an ancient tradition, one that he doesn't intend to break. 

Fukunaga appears from a side room carrying a hakama and hakamashita in black and red respectively, and Tetsurou glances in the mirror. He looks unearthly, dressed in the markings of Nekoma's second in command. The Runes are ones he's familiar with. His temples are “Insight” and “Clarity”, the center of his forehead bearing “Servitude”. His eyes look even brighter yellow than normal with the black lines and gold dust, his mouth soft and plush with its paint on. 

Miyo and Fukunaga help him dress, tying his hakama and settling the sheer haori on him again. Once he's fully dressed, Miyo fetches a pair of bira-bira kanzashi that look like flowers and settles them in his hair at a fetching angle. He turns his head back and forth, checking in the mirror for anything that could potentially annoy Nekomata. He looks flawless, faintly androgynous as Nekomata likes, but there's always something. Fukunaga taps his shoulder, and points at his hands.

“Right,” Tetsurou sighs, and sits so that his nails can be shaped to smooth oval and painted black. 

Once that's finished, he rises once again on silent feet, and Miyo bows to him before gesturing to the door. He bows back, deep as he can, and backs out of the room without rising. Fukunaga follows him, falling in an appropriate two steps behind him and slightly to his left. His black ears twitch at the slightest noise, his tail curled up and over his arms. Tetsurou wants to stop and talk with him, but he knows it's not wise to do so outside of his offices. 

Kai is waiting for them at the entrance to Nekomata's private offices in full court gear and makeup, Yaku beside him in a well fitted suit.

“Looking good, and you're on time Tetsurou-dono,” Kai says with a slight smile. Kai is Seneschal of the court, and half his face is painted to look like an elaborate skull with sharp teeth and there's red beneath his eyes. “Is hell freezing over?”

Tetsurou makes a face at him as Yaku snickers. 

“As requested,” Tetsurou says, ducking his head so that Fukunaga can settle the kanzashi a little more stable. “Naoi is there?”

“Yes, Tetsurou-dono.” Yaku steps forward, carefully straightening his haori. “Kenma-san isn't accompanying you today?”

Tetsurou shakes his head. “He's working on a project for me.”

Yaku and Kai nod, fully understanding. Tetsurou tries to keep Kenma out of the Nekoma building as much as possible.

“I'll announce you,” Kai says, and Tetsurou nods, straightening up and brushing himself down once more. Kai opens the large doors, stepping inside with Tetsurou following and Fukunaga behind him. Yaku closes the doors behind him, and Tetsurou follows Kai up the walkway to where the Nekoma throne sits, and Nekomata upon it with a bare face and elegant clothes. It's on a very wide granite dais with two steps leading to the low red chair where he sits. Naoi stands to the side of him on the main floor, his slit pupils wide in the low light and dressed in an all white yukata. The hall has large iron pillars holding up the roof, and windows on each side let in slits of light to spill on the floor. The room is quiet, their feet on the tatami mats making the only real sound. Nekomata smiles as they reach his throne, Naoi stepping forward out of the darkness. He's a big cat chimera like Taketora, the eldest son of one of the Coven members and a Jaguar chimera, but he received the melanistic trait and thus has black ears and a long black tail. His teeth are much larger and sharper than a full humans, and much like Kenma he keeps his nails sharp and long. 

Kai falls into a full bow, and Tetsurou follows suit, forehead pressing to the floor. 

“You're dismissed, Noboyuki-kun,” Nekomata says, and Tetsurou keeps his head pressed to the floor until Kai has left the room. “You may rise.”

Tetsurou lifts his head, remaining on his knees on the floor as he should. Nekomata waves his hand, and Fukunaga stands and backs up until he's off to the side. 

“Ah, Tetsurou,” Nekomata says with a smile. “You look well. How was the banquet?”

“It went well, my lord,” Tetsurou says. “Our new recruits behaved admirably.”

“You spoke with Nohebi and Itachiyama?” Nekomata asks.

“I did. Daishou Suguru and his wife Mika are expecting again. They've brought in seven new recruits this year. Itachiyama brought only one, a weather witch. I also spoke with Akaashi-san during the dance, but only regarding Bokuto-san's advancement to Coven Head. Akaashi-san is struggling under Sakusa-san's Command rune but I believe in truth he still remains loyal to Fukurodani. Akaashi was unable to speak to me about anything of importance.” Tetsurou keeps his eyes level, not lifting them to meet Nekomata's. He was born and raised under the thumb of one of the most powerful Earth mages in perhaps the world- Nekomata is deadly even as he grows old, and slights real or imagined are taken seriously. There aren't many old Coven Heads for a reason, and Nekomata has outlasted them all.

“Good, good.” Nekomata taps his fingers against his thigh, considering. “Well done.”

Tetsurou gives him the run down of the four normal Covens, the food, the dancing, Oikawa's personal state, who sat with who and danced with whom, Aoba Johsai's defenses that he'd seen, and other small things without question. His legs ache from sitting seiza for over an hour by the time they wind down, but he keeps his face still and blank. He's sat seiza for upwards of six hours without moving- he's out of practice, and he'll have to work on that. 

“Overall a productive banquet, I think,” Nekomata says at last. 

“Indeed, my lord.”

“Very well. That's that business done with.” Nekomata takes a glass offered by Naoi, drinks, and hands it back. “Now to another piece of nastier business.”

Tetsurou's heart all but stops. _How did he find out?_ “My lord?”

Nekomata's eyes sharpen on him. “Word came from the fabric district that you had the Kito-ko gang absorbed into our ranks this past month. Something that you did not inform me of before you had it done. I found out when they brought their tribute.”

Tetsurou's heart starts beating again, somewhat faster than before. It's an oversight, certainly, and something that he must be punished for. Nekomata doesn't like those who go behind his back, and if Tetsurou wasn't his Head of Operations he would being absorbed by granite and entombed as flooring for the rest of time right now. He immediately goes into a deep bow, swallowing hard. The punishment will be rough, but at least he hasn't found out about Kenma's plans.

“My lord, my deepest apologies for not going to you immediately with this information. It must have slipped my mind with everything happening. I will take any punishment you decide is fitting, my lord,” Tetsurou says, the words familiar. 

“Good. While I appreciate your initiative, Tetsurou, you are young and headstrong and need to be reminded of your place.” Nekomata waves a hand, and Naoi walks around the throne to press his hand against the part of the base of the granite throne. It shimmers and shifts before sliding back away to reveal two black granite blocks with leather cuffs resting on top of them and a chain hanging between two hooks with a leather collar attached. Kuroo walks to the blocks to the left of the throne, looking down at them with his face composed. He's knelt before them many times before now. The blocks are just within line of sight so that Nekomata doesn't have to turn to watch his punishment. Tetsurou has watched many people bow and suffer before Nekomata as he's clawed his way to his position, his father notably one of them. Others will one day do the same, unless things change.

Tetsurou will make it change.

Fukunaga steps forward, helping him to drop the hakamashita to around his waist to keep it out of the way. His hands don't shake, because he knows his place- he knows any show of weakness now will be pounced on and exploited. The bira-bira kanzashi jingle as he does, keeping his hair up and contained. He hopes that they won't fall. Fukunaga bows and steps back once he's done, retreating to the corner of the room.

“Chain him,” Nekomata says, and Naoi approaches. Tetsurou kneels between the two blocks, stretching out so his wrists rest there. The cuffs are fastened, sturdy leather locking tight around his wrists. Tetsurou lowers his head, baring the Binding rune on the back of his neck. He can practically feel it burn under the eyes of Nekomata. 

“Whipping,” Naoi breathes into his ear as he takes the leather collar hanging from between the two blocks on a chain to wrap it around Tetsurou's neck. Tetsurou closes his eyes, resigned. It's been a while since he's been subjected to that particular punishment, but it's not impossible to take. It's horrific in how painful it is, and it takes far too long to heal properly without a healer on hand, but he can handle whips. He's only been tortured with a cane once, but that had nearly broken him in half and Nekomata hadn't been pleased with how long he was out of commission. He's been under a cat o' nine tails before, but by far the one he's most often put under is a bullwhip. 

Once Naoi is done, he steps back, and Tetsurou braces himself. He's stretched out and utterly vulnerable, his back and stomach fully exposed, his feet bare. Naoi walks around him once, and then goes to his position in the corner. Tetsurou doesn't try to look, just focuses on the faint white veins of the stone beneath him. 

“Send Yaku in.”

Tetsurou closes his eyes, and lets his head hang. The chains connecting the collar jingle as it drops, and he can hear Nekomata chuckle softly. Yaku may be a friend, but he won't pull any punches if Tetsurou's the one getting punished. He knows exactly how much he can take, and Nekomata knows that Naoi would spare him the worst of it.

Naoi calls Yaku in from his position by the door, the familiar tap of boots on the floor pausing for only the slightest second as Yaku walks in. 

“Yaku,” Nekomata says, and there's the sound of leather against itself. “Your tool.”

“Yes, Nekomata-sama.”

“Tetsurou.”

“Yes, my lord,” Tetsurou says, not lifting his head. 

“Thirty strokes, one for each day of this nonsense. You will count them. If you lose count, we begin again. Am I understood?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Tetsurou doesn't tense, because he knows better by now. He's been whipped before, knows exactly how brutal it is and how much worse Nekomata could make it. Yaku walks over, and presses the length of the whip along his back to give him an idea of it. 

Tetsurou inhales, and the whip snaps down.

oOo

“I'm sorry,” Yaku says as Kenma opens the door. Kuroo stands behind him, wobbly on his legs and pale, still dressed for court in his hakama and his face painted. Yaku doesn't look much better, his hands conspicuously gloved. Kenma's sensitive nose can smell blood, thick and cloying. “I swear I didn't know he'd make me.”

Kenma stares, looking between the two.

“Whipping,” Kuroo says roughly, stumbling forward. Kenma catches him, eyes going wide, and Yaku follows him in and shuts the door behind him. “I've got salve in the bathroom-”

“Get him on the couch,” Kenma orders, mind immediately whirring. “Get his shirt off, cut it off if you need.”

Yaku takes him back as Kenma hurries to the bathroom, opening the cabinet above the sink and rifling through the bottles and jars until he finds one marked with the Heal rune in Kuroo's neat writing. He checks the ingredient list on the back, because Kuroo is a nerd and labels everything with exact specifications, and once he's confirmed it's the right one he takes that and the hydrogen peroxide out. The cotton pads and gauze are grabbed as well, and he rushes back to the living room where Kuroo is draped on the couch with a sheet under him. His back looks awful, covered in welts and bleeding wounds, and Yaku is pale as he washes his hands clean of blood in the kitchen sink, scrubbing hard. The red top has been left on the coffee table, bloodstains soaked into the fine fabric.

“How many?” Kenma asks, fetching a clean rag from the drawers and running it under the hot water that Yaku's using.

“30. One for each day that he forgot to inform Nekomata about something,” Yaku says, drying his hands off and grimacing. “He had me do it, but I swear I didn't know about it. I thought he was keeping me late to talk about the wards.”

Kenma sighs and pulls a steel bowl out of the cabinet, dropping the rag into it and heading over to the couch. Kuroo's breathing is heavy and ragged, and Kenma kneels down at his side. 

“Kuro?”

Kuroo's fingers find his, squeezing slightly. “Hey, kitten.”

“I'm going to start on your back,” Kenma tells him, swallowing hard. It never gets easier. A traitorous tear escapes his eye and he wipes it away quickly. “Do you need something to hold in your teeth?”

“Yeah,” Kuroo says, huffing out a laugh. “Don't wanna scream and scare the neighbors.”

Kenma kisses his temple before standing up and fetching a belt from the bedroom. He folds it in half and half again, and Kuroo gratefully takes it between his teeth.

“Alright,” Kenma says, stroking his hair. “I'm going to start cleaning you up.” 

He wipes down the worst of the blood, some of it getting on his hands. Whipping injuries always look worse than they actually are, and it's Nekomata's favorite way to punish Kuroo. Kuroo hisses and snarls as he carefully works around the worst of the mess on his back.

He looks up, finding Yaku standing there.

“Is there anything I can do?” Yaku asks, clearly worried.

Kenma smiles a little, trying to be reassuring. “It's okay. Leave him to me- you should get home.”

“You're sure?”

“Yes.”

Yaku nods, bows deeply, and leaves. Kenma waits until the door closes to get up. Kuroo spits out the belt, and Kenma sits on the couch.

“Is he gone?”

“Yes.”

Kuroo's head settles in his lap, and Kenma gently cards through his messy hair. It's filthy with sweat, the bira-bira kanzashi tangled in it, and if he looks down he's forced to look at the Binding rune on his neck. The branding to put it into his skin had been one of the worst things he'd ever watched, but somehow it feels worse to be force to look at it day in and day out than just that first time it was applied.

“Hey,” Kuroo says quietly, arms coming up to wrap around his waist. “D'you remember when I was like... 14? And started learning about my gifts?”

Kenma says nothing, just strokes his hair.

“I just thought it was stupid, at first. But now I think I made a good choice, developing them like I did. Just showing them what I can do with Iron. Hiding the more powerful one from Eisuke. From Nekomata, from everybody but you.” Kuroo lifts his head, and his eyes are full of a dangerous sort of light. “I'm going to boil his blood in his veins for making you shed a single tear.”

He sits up, and Kenma watches him stand. The broken skin recedes, healing rapidly, blood pooling under the surface to accelerate it. Kuroo's back is smooth and flawless in seconds, as if the whip had never touched him, faint bruising and dried blood all that remains. Kuroo stretches before going to one knee before him, bending so the he can kiss Kenma's hands, still faintly bloody from cleaning his back. Kenma strokes his face, watching as Kuroo's forehead loses its little stress lines, as those gold eyes flick up to him burning hot with determination and such love that Kenma's skin burns with it. Kuroo Tetsurou, Blood and Iron mage and one of the most powerful men in the country, looks at him with utter devotion. 

“You are so good for me,” Kenma says, running a thumb over Kuroo's lips and watching his eyes flutter. “We'll make him pay. Just like we made all of them pay before.”

“I am, as always, your most faithful partner.”

Kenma smiles, and Kuroo kisses him.

He tastes like iron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments fill me with unending joy, and I could definitely use some of that right now.


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